I've recently become very aware of the fact that I am not able to glance at the airspeed indicator on the G1000 and get a mental picture of what the airpseed is doing as quickly as I can if I glance at a traditional gague.

The reason for this is since I don't actually have to read the numbers to know if my airspeed is too low.

Consider this example... Lets say I fall asleep in IMC in a G1000 airplane. I wake up in an unusual attitude. The first thing I want to see is the airspeed. In the G1000 I have to read it and process what the numbers say (or at least look at the color). Now in an aircraft with a traditional Airspeed Indicator I can glance at it and without even reading a number I can tell if I'm slow or fast just by the position of the needle.

Does anyone else see my point here?

 

Yes, don't fall asleep.

 

Unusual Attitude in IMC? First thing I want to see is nose high or nose low. If I can tell which way the nose is pointed, I have a pretty good idea of what the airspeed is doing, or will be doing.

In addition to the attitude indicator giving me pitch trend (airspeed) info, it's also going to help me with roll (or rollout) info.

I think the point is still: Don't fall asleep in IMC (when you're flying the plane).

Out of curiosity, does the G1000 system have an airspeed rate vector on the tape?

 

I try to avoid glass cockpits for that reason, among others (I'm old and set in my ways). I flew a Remos which had an unusual stall warning system. I'm used to the horn in the Cessnas, but the Remos has a colored stall tape on the PFD that grows taller and changes from green to yellow to red as the angel of attack increases.

 

Yes, it has a 5 second airspeed trend vector.

 

Airspeed is irrelevant in an unusual attitude. If you see lots of brown, reduce the power..you are about to overspeed. If you see lots of blue, firewall it...you are losing knots quickly unless your type starts with F/A.

 

Good point.. Or if your type starts with "X" perhaps lol...

 

Yes. It's a focus of good G1000 training.

Doesn't work quite as well for airspeed, but for the rest, the emphasis in G1000 training is on using the bugs. Being off altitude has the same issue. With the bug, like the analog counterpart off-altitude correction, like with the analog version, is not to read numbers, but to see that the bug is above or below and correct in that direction.

The airspeed bugs in the G1000 are targeted at critical speeds. Maybe it could use more customization and a sync function like heading and altitude. But as the Sgt said, recognizing the attitude is more important than the airspeed. The G1000's display is ahead of the 3" traditional AI in that respect.

Truthfully, a lot of the differences is about, well, learning the differences. There's too much talk about how glass is "too easy." It's not. There's a definite learning curve whichever way you go.

 

It is different, but you will got use to it. I had the same problem years ago when I switch to a glass cockpit training aircraft. I have about 600 hours in aircraft with the G1000 and believe me, its easier to use than some other "systems" (cough, avidyne, cough). When I was instructing in them, I found that students too often tried to "read the number" which is too difficult unless you're in smooth air in level cruise flight. Instead, maybe try recognizing the static number and then looking to see which way this other numbers are moving. For example, you are trying to climb at 78 knots. The "7" stays relatively still in the airspeed window while the "8" changes more quickly as slight variations in your airspeed occur. By recognizing if the small number (the single knots) and spinning down or up, you will more easily recognize be able to "read" the G1000. This same principle goes for altitude and vertical speed as well.

As far as unusual attitude go, referencing the airspeed tape for pitch info on the G1000 is more difficult. Is there a back-up airspeed indicator you can initially reference instead and then use the PFD?

A word to the wise, while an AHRS in glass cockpits doesn't have gyros that can tumble during an upset event like its analog counterpart. I did, on many occasions, have the AHRS in the G1000 "give up" while doing unusual attitudes, really slow slow flight, spins, and 0 flap power-on stalls. It would replace the attitude indicator and horizon with a big red X. It didn't happen every time, but it did happen. I feel lstorm's use of the airspeed indicator to get an initial pitch indication is the safest and quickest way to initiate a recovery from unusual flight. After the recovery in initiated, the use of the other instruments (as long as they are in agreement with the intended recovery) can be used. Well, at least thats how I was taught and how I taught my students... but everyone teaches things differently

Anyway, I hope I help lstrom.

Cheers!

 

Yes you have been helpful, thank you.. And yes, there is a backup Airspeed, Attitude, and Altimiter which I do glance at from time to time, but I feel like that's "cheating" so I've been trying to break myself of this habit.

I can tell you that I have a much easier time maintaining a constant altitude & airspeed during slow flight if I look at the standby instruments rather than the G1000. On the standby instruments I can nail it and hold it without even really working too hard. On the G1000 I can do it, but it is more difficult for me. Cruise flight is not really a problem, its just when I'm trying to hold altitude for a maneuver.

Can you please describe in more detail your process of
But could you please describe in a little bit more detail your method for controlling Airspeed and Altitude using the "small number" spinning up or down? Do you mean visually spinning downwards or upwards? Or do you mean actually reading the numbers themselves and deciding if they are going up or down?