OBK - Think you took things the wrong way a little there - and took a couple of items personally which werent aimed at you.
Um. PA34s *are* modern.
And most secencas do have 3 gyros and the one you heard running down as you turned the electrics off will be the TC - turn the electrics on then off without the engines ever running and thats should prove it.
The paper I refer to is called a MAP. A legal requirement for navigation. I never impled anything more than that - there again I never implied much.... Oh and do you not carry more than 1 pen? I carry 3...What I was getting at is that regardless of what NAV aids you use you should always draw a line on a map. Thats all I am saying.
In terms of running into black clouds - inadvertant IMC does not happen. Total myth. To get that close to a cloud to start with proves a serious lack of judgement/airmanship - unless you are intending an IFR flight anyway. In which case it didnt matter anyway.
Please dont confuse IFR with IMC....
Talking of IFR - as an instrument instructor....dont you write down clearances, not down times overhead at various waypoints etc...or do you rely on the GPS battery to remember all this information - not being provocative - just curious....anyway..GPS doesnt cover fuel burn and whats left in the tanks does it?
Writing LEGIBLY is an important part of basic nav training - I dont let my PPL/IMC students get away with it - so why did you go flying with something that could smudge? I was not dictating methods of navigation to you....I think you misunderstood - partly caused by me failing to fully articulate what I meant and leaving just a glib comment....and having a stab at others who appear to think lookout is optional.....apologies.
If the plane's nav equipment is that bad I think its time to find another a/c to hire, or if you own it - get it fixed. Personally I hate flying with defective equipment - there is little excuse for it....Having said the nav equip can be dodgy do you think it would be a fair defence to say you got airbourne with GPS as a backup - because if the nav aids did play up you would then be using GPS as a primary source of navigation - as you appear (i did say appear) to have an aversion to nav logs/maps? (please correct me...)
And my congratulations to you - someone who uses the GPS in the way it should be used in a cockpit - i.e. heads outside 90% - I agree fully!
All respect to you from me.
EFIS is electronic - not electric. If we are going to be pedantic
Please forgive me for possibly venting frustration with some pilots - it wasnt meant at you directly- but recently I have started thinking that a large number of pilots appear to feel that toys and gizmos are more important that basic navigation & airmanship (i.e. lookout)....thats all. Sorry if you felt I was aiming it directly at yourself....I dont know your flying and most certainly was not making an assumption about your level of airmanship etc....apologies for any comments taken this way.....
With regard to electonic nav aids....I do use GPS,VOR,DME,NDB,RNAV - VFR or IFR. But I use them as you suggest - as a quick heads in check of how things are going - rather than as a replacement for the outside world!