This is perhaps one of the most debated upon topics in general aviation. In the early years of aviation, all the pilots could use to learn to fly is a steam panel. However, advances in aviation technology have led to the development of a whole new type of trainer aircraft: the glass panel aircraft. If you're still on the planning stage of your flight lessons, you would certainly touch upon this subject. Which one should you use to learn how to fly an aircraft? Should it be a glass panel or a steam panel?
Now, make no mistake about it. Each type of trainer aircraft has their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Armed with the right information, however, you can easily make the decision as to which of these two are you going to subscribe to for your flight lessons. To do that, you'd have to first understand the drawbacks and benefits when you use a glass or a steam panel for your flight lessons.
A Steam Panel
A steam panel trainer aircraft relies solely on old school aircraft instruments that rely on steam systems and rely less on electronics that are otherwise the trademark of glass panel trainers. You find a lot more steam panel aircraft than glass panel aircraft used in flight lessons because they don't charge as much as glass panel aircraft do. There are less electronics to maintain and take care of so obviously it's not as expensive.
Learning with steam panel aircraft is highly manual and traditional. That's the disadvantage to this type of trainers. For example, flight computing has to be done with the E6B which, while effective and proven throughout time, takes time and effort. You also have to memorize or at least refer from paper maps when finding out the layout of the airport you will be landing in. The workload is significant.
A Glass Panel
A glass panel, on the other hand, is an electronics-dominated machine. The G1000 trainer, for example, is an example of a glass panel installed in a trainer aircraft. Learning using a glass panel could be a bit faster than when you use steam panels, since the onboard computer does much of the work for you. You can access almost all information with the press of a button, as long as the memory cards are updated.
In terms of drawbacks, using a glass panel trainer for your flight training will require to dish out a lot of money because the machine is very expensive to maintain. In addition, the reduced workload will make the student reliant on the computer.
Now, make no mistake about it. Each type of trainer aircraft has their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Armed with the right information, however, you can easily make the decision as to which of these two are you going to subscribe to for your flight lessons. To do that, you'd have to first understand the drawbacks and benefits when you use a glass or a steam panel for your flight lessons.
A Steam Panel
A steam panel trainer aircraft relies solely on old school aircraft instruments that rely on steam systems and rely less on electronics that are otherwise the trademark of glass panel trainers. You find a lot more steam panel aircraft than glass panel aircraft used in flight lessons because they don't charge as much as glass panel aircraft do. There are less electronics to maintain and take care of so obviously it's not as expensive.
Learning with steam panel aircraft is highly manual and traditional. That's the disadvantage to this type of trainers. For example, flight computing has to be done with the E6B which, while effective and proven throughout time, takes time and effort. You also have to memorize or at least refer from paper maps when finding out the layout of the airport you will be landing in. The workload is significant.
A Glass Panel
A glass panel, on the other hand, is an electronics-dominated machine. The G1000 trainer, for example, is an example of a glass panel installed in a trainer aircraft. Learning using a glass panel could be a bit faster than when you use steam panels, since the onboard computer does much of the work for you. You can access almost all information with the press of a button, as long as the memory cards are updated.
In terms of drawbacks, using a glass panel trainer for your flight training will require to dish out a lot of money because the machine is very expensive to maintain. In addition, the reduced workload will make the student reliant on the computer.
