They were all pretty much alike, black faced, round, big for flight instruments, small for systems and condition indicators. You could climb into the cockpit of just about any aircraft and fly away with it, so standardized were the gauges. My current aircraft at the time was a 727.

Big black flight instruments and little round systems gauges were everywhere in that cockpit. Simple. Comfortable. Familiar.

So what happened. I went off to check out in the 767 and the world began to evolve. Forget all that junk they said, the future is here. Now we can give you everything you need to know right here in this little screen. Now your instrument scan is going to be much faster, your interpretation of the information will be much more accurate and your work load will be much less. 

Thus began my transition to the ‘glass cockpit’.  Everything was different. The first few days of ground school were filled with PFD, MFD, EFIS, HIS, CDU and EMS. An ADAHRS they said ran it all in conjunction with an inertial system. Something called CRM would keep everyone in synch.

Sure thing I thought, but my eyes glazed over and I was a little lost in it all.

Wow I thought, it was so easy to fly basic instruments. But this was way better they said. These screens were more reliable, gave more information more accurately and saved money. Whatdoyouwant?

I admit that for the first few days I was a little lost. It wasn’t until I sat in the simulator and turned everything off in the display that I began to get a handle on things. I tuned on the attitude indicator by itself and low and behold, other than being on a glass screen, it looked just like the beloved old attitude indicator I had been looking at for decades. Then came the heading indicator and things began to make sense. Add in the airspeed strip up the left side, altitude on the right, a to/from indicator in the upper center and I began to feel at home. It obviously worked out for me and I spent decades loving the glass cockpits of aircraft such as the MD-11.

So much info, all right there. Great stuff. But I never kidded myself that it was easier than flying the basic old T. Even now, flying the basic T is relaxing, easy, simple. No, I don’t have nearly all the information displayed;  weather, ground speed, wind speed, true course, true heading, mag heading, terrain, outside air temp, moving map and traffic to name a few; but I’m much more relaxed doing it.

Which brings us to the point. Glass cockpits. Better? Safer? Or not?

The NTSB has been worrying about just that question since the glass cockpit has found its way into the lightest aircraft. They’re so much less expensive than steam gauges, and so easy to install, that you can even find them in ultralights of all things. The NTSB looked at the aircraft accident records of single-engine airplanes with and without glass cockpits. They evaluated glass cockpit training and attempted to identify safety issues associated with glass cockpit displays.

Introduction of Glass Cockpit Avionics into Light Aircraft:
http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safetystudies/SS1001.html

They report that up through 2008, light single-engine aircraft with glass cockpits actually had lower total accident rates than the same aircraft equipped with analog instruments. Problem was the fatality rates were higher.

They found that accidents involving glass cockpit equipped aircraft were more likely associated with IFR and single-pilot operations, while flights involving analog cockpits were more likely shorter, instructional, and two-pilot operations. Paradoxically, accident pilots flying glass cockpits were found to have higher levels of pilot certification and more total flight experience.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has no specific training requirements for pilots operating glass cockpit equipped light aircraft. With the exception of training provided by airframe manufacturers, pilots currently seek glass cockpit training on their own.

The NTSB reports that training in conventional cockpits does not prepare pilots to safely operate the complex and varied glass cockpit systems installed in light aircraft today and that there is a need for new training procedures to ensure that pilots are adequately prepared to safely operate these advanced avionics.

Conclusion. The NTSB suggest that “glass cockpits do not result in measurable improvements in safety when compared to similar aircraft with conventional instruments.”

The primary safety issue identified by the study is the requirement for pilots to have sufficient ‘equipment-specific’ knowledge and proficiency to safely operate aircraft equipped with glass cockpit avionics.  Further, there is a need to capture maintenance and operational information in order to assess the reliability of glass cockpit avionics in light aircraft.

Of the six NTSB recommendations made to the FAA: one addresses the need for reporting requirements, but all the rest involve pilot training.  Like I said, “It wasn’t until I sat at the simulator and turned everything off in the display that I began to get a handle on things.” It was as a result of my, and many other pilots complaints about being a little lost at the beginning of the training that my airline revised their training syllabus to begin the course as I had, with a blank screen.

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