The Glass Cockpit

After worrying about today's weather for a whole week, I got a bit of luck and when I went up the sun was shining and the clouds were few. The wind wasn't ideal but the weather can never be completely perfect here so I was happy.

The club was one flying instructor short so things were running somewhat behind schedule. 45 minutes later than planned my instructor, Everett, came out to meet me and explained what we'd be doing today. He said that instead of doing an excercise from my flying manual we'd go up in Charlie India, one of the new Garmin 1000-equipped "glass cockpit" planes. Now, if you have read my embarassingly technical post from a few weeks back you will have gathered that I am pretty excited about these. Basically it replaces our flight instruments and radios with two large screens which act as multi-function displays and control units for the various data we input during a flight. If you happen to be into technology AND aviation therefore, a G1000-equipped plane is quite a machine.

Aside from the instruments they are really the same plane that I have been flying for my previous lessons. The start-up procedure is almost the same with the only differences being extra preparation for the G1000 system and the different positions of various switches to make room for the MFDs. We're getting new, revised checklists printed to cater for the small differences.

We started the engine and got our airfield information and I began the short taxi to runway 22, and after pointing the nose into the wind, putting the brakes on, and revving her up to do the routine power/brake check, we lined up and advised other traffic in the area of our intentions. I gave the little Cessna some beans and up we went, climbing to 1500 feet for what was going to be a relaxing familiarisation flight, free of spiral dives, battles with out-of-trim aircraft, and simulated forced landings that are all part of PPL training. We'd just be getting to grips with the instruments and what we can do with them whilst we flew round the Ards Peninsula back to Newtownards airfield.

I levelled off at 1500 feet and soon took the Cessna up higher to 1700 feet. Everett set the heading bugs and gave the GPS a direct route to Portaferry (with the GPS we can make waypoints out of towns even though there is no actual navaid there, which surprised me) and when we reached that he gave it a direct path back to Newtownards, or EGAD as it is known in aviation circles. We had a play with the autopilot, which is very good, and then he showed me how to switch the display into OBS (omni bearing selector) mode to give me a path onto runway 22. I chased the heading and altitude bugs and GPS guide and before I knew it I was descending to be at 700 feet over the factory near the airfield, which is the standard procedure we use for arriving on this runway. Turning onto finals I flew the airplane down visually and made what I admit was a bit of a thumper of a landing. Landings are more difficult than they look because of the slow airspeed therefore the lack of airflow over the control surfaces, making the controls heavy and sluggish to move. No matter, it was as satisfying as ever to feel the tires hitting the tarmac and with a few more under my belt I will improve.

As I was taxiing in to the flying club apron it occured to me that I had had control of the plane for the whole flight, from taxi out to taxi in. It made me feel pretty good. I now have over 2 hours in my logbook which is not a big dent in the requirements for a PPL but a good start.

I'll be in next Saturday, weather permitting, for a simulator ride with the G1000 glass cockpit, to help me get to grips with the more advanced features without having to fly. After that I will fly it again if the weather holds up. It'll be fun.

Thanks for reading once again, comments/questions welcome as ever.