The Digital to Analog Risk: Should We Teach New Dogs Old Tricks?

Abstract

Imagine being competent and certified to fly under both visual and instrument rules in a single engine aircraft. Then imagine flying cross country, entering actual instrument conditions and having the stark realization that most of the instrumentation on the panel doesn't make sense to you. You have difficulty integrating the instruments and find yourself fixating on a select few. Less than one minute later you lose your sense of up and down and moments later you hear the stall horn, feel the centrifugal forces and only see the white, whirling shades of deep cloud immersion. Suddenly you jerk awake to realize you are safe in your bed and this is nothing more than a pilot's bad dream; or could it be?

Authors

• Whitehurst, Geoffrey Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Rantz, William Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University