Wow...that's unbelievable. Not sure how a pilot is going to remain proficient at raw-data if they never do it. I don't see much point in flying cruise portions (with people walking the cabin, and only needing to hold altitude and heading) but flying a descent or climb is good for keeping your brain sharp. Maybe I'm misinformed, since I fly a turboprop with no AP, but I thought we were certified to fly an aircraft through all phases of flight within ATP (or, at the very least, Commercial) standards.

Smurf, my best advice is to keep teaching your students the same way, but add in a little more about the G1000, even if it comes during the prep for the stage check. If the student is good and prepared, it shouldn't be a problem for him or her to pick up the glass system stuff. After all, there's no substitute for a good, basic foundation of skills. You may only have to show them once.

 

Very true, I have already changed how I teach to my students. This happened quite awhile ago. Now I teach them to hand fly, then before the exam I go over the automation. When I first started I would teach similar to how I was taught. Of course times change so my students now know how to use the automation, but it still rubs me the wrong way. A few more hours to teach them something they could have learned later on in life or on their own cross counties. Flight training is $costly$ so I like to save money. On that note, I do have a G1000 sim on my computer that I use A LOT.
The WildSmurf

 

You know what I miss most from my 121 regional airline days?

Turning all the damn automation off and hand-flying the River Visual 19 @ DCA.

Sometimes, a guy/gal just needs to be a pilot...period.

 

Not sure if one is available for the G1000, but Garmin has free downloadable simulators for their associated units. These have been very helpful to my students by doing ground with just the sim software so they can focus on just learning the box without the pressure of flying the airplane or the associated cost of running the aircraft.

When they do instrument x-c's on them I have fly it/program it on their own on the sim first so that way they are much better when we fly it.

 

The biggest problem I see, (Note: I am not, nor have been a CFI) is that many first jobs, other than flight instruction, are in steam gauge AC. Barons, Aztecs, Navajo's, etc. If your lucky like I was, you could be flying Lear jets down to mins on the sixpack. I think all students need to learn "old school", plenty of time for the glass later. This automation is, while progress, I fear to the detriment of the next generation of Pilots, and ultimately the flying public.

 

HIGHLY recommend what fjetter has mentioned here.
I have NO experience with any of the Garmin products and the few times I saw them in flight - well...I was too busy flying the airplane to really grasp the automation.

I heard about the FREE downloads available and got the Garmin 430/530 User Manuals and Simulators.

I'm hoping to impress my new bosses with my basic knowleedge since he specifically complained about some of the pilots having been flying for quite a few months and knowing hardly anything about the GPSs

Btw - the information available from these Garmin units in incredible and the G1000 system is just out of this world!

USMCFLYR

 

Once you learn one Garmin, you've learned them all. Started with a 430, and when I started flying larger stuff, the 530 was a piece of cake. Transition to a G1000 was also really easy. They are nice products, but are way too much for new students. As mentioned before, students end up looking at the shiny displays the entire flight instead of what's right out the window. And that's a shame, because I always thought everything looks nicer from a few thousand feet up.

 

Glad to know that my theory (and plan) was accurate then. One possible aircraft had dual 430s and the other a single 530. I figured that I could learn the 430 and easily upgrade to the 530. I just need to ACTUALLY USE it in the airplane now - real life.

USMCFLYR

 

All the GPS functions are the same across the whole line-up of Garmin Products. What takes time is in the G1000 the Com/Nav functions change slightly, but are easy to pick up. Then there's the expansive features such as the Vertical Profiles(that show up on the PFD and set up in the FPL menu vs. a VNAV page) and all sorts of cool trip planning features. It really can be "too" much information for your day VFR types, but hard IFR, there's not much info you can't get access too assuming you have full XM weather, and charts

 

After reading (almost) the entire User's Manual - I found myself HOPING that these Garmins didn't have the traffic, terrain, and Wx features installed as I was already at my limit with new technology for the time being! I am a huge fan of the flight planning features though.

Ewfflyer - how could I outline a box of airspace though if I wanted to on the 430/530 series? I know most SUAS is already displayed - but usually it is huge chucks of airspace (Warning Areas for example) and local units further break that airspace into many smaller areas. Accept for using Suer Wypts to define the airspace and then linking them together as a flight plan, I didn't really see another way of sequencing. Any ideas?

USMCFLYR