Glass Cockpit Time

He says that the future is all glass. He pointed out an article in AOPA magazine this past month to show how important it will be. Another flight instructor at my local flight school says he has a friend who got turned down by an airliner because he did not have any glass time.
 
Future DIA Pilot said:
He says that the future is all glass. He pointed out an article in AOPA magazine this past month to show how important it will be. Another flight instructor at my local flight school says he has a friend who got turned down by an airliner because he did not have any glass time.
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I'm guessing his friend is making excuses for a bad interview.

As for your instructor and AOPA they're correct in that glass is the future.

However you have everything from freight guys, corporate pilots, regional, major and legacy air carrier pilots telling you to save your money and do it the cheaper way.
 
"He says that the future is all glass. He pointed out an article in AOPA magazine this past month to show how important it will be"

This is total BS. Fire the guy at once. Find another school.
 
Future DIA Pilot said:
He says that the future is all glass. He pointed out an article in AOPA magazine this past month to show how important it will be. Another flight instructor at my local flight school says he has a friend who got turned down by an airliner because he did not have any glass time.
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Yeah I would send these guys to jetcareers.com

They need an education :)
 
Future DIA Pilot said:
Another flight instructor at my local flight school says he has a friend who got turned down by an airliner because he did not have any glass time.
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I don't buy this either. Tell those guys to come on to JC - where those of us in the 121/135 world can set the record straight.
 
Hey DIA, what is the flight school that you are flying at? I take it, it is in the Denver area?

As for the glass vs dials. I would say fly what you want to fly. Two grand sounds like a bit much for the difference in that training. It is the same airplane, just a different way of reading the instruments.

Will flying the glass give you a leg up in the pursuit of an airline job? Maybe, it won't hurt. But it does limit your options. If you want to fly cargo or for Great Lakes then the glass wouldn't be a good idea. If you want to fly a pretty jet then glass would help.

Also, I have found that people have a harder time going from dials to glass than going from glass to dials. Mind you, these are just Cessna pilots with limited experience though. An airline pilot such as the guys above are pretty sharp and would be able to pick either one up pretty quickly if they aren't too set in their old school ways.

Me, I would take glass over dials any day.
 
Seggy said:
Glass cockpit time for a private is laughable at best. You DO NOT need it at all before you get to the airlines. I would get a new instructor!


Welcome to Jetcareers.
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:yeahthat: Also Welcome to JC!
Glass is nice and there is more SA, but for the PPL you need to be looking more outside and I actually think seeing the gauges is better for that type of training. You can LOOK a six pack, you have to READ a glass PFD.
 
Remember that AOPA may not be unbiased in their writing. The rag is basically a sales vehicle for anyone in the aviation industry. The future is glass, but you would be a fool to bypass steam guages. This would be akin to saying there is no value in tailwheel training, the future was nosewheel airplanes a long time ago.

Give it ten years and cessna will come out with a 172 classic, for all of us "glassed out" pilots. I've had more RMU, SG, PFD, MFD failures than I ever had problems in an old ragged out 150.
 
Future DIA Pilot said:
So it wouldn't help me a great deal for getting a job with an airline if I had a lot of glass time?
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Nobody really knows - since only recently has the ability to build a lot of "glass time" in the small GA market become available.

However - I think I reflect many people's opinions here that it's STUNNINGLY unlikely that anybody is going care. At MOST people might be mildly interested to see if you have any "glass time", but if you can't make the transition to glass in an hour in a C172 then you'll never make it through basic indoc. at an airline, let alone sim. training. So having 100 hours "glass time" isn't going to help much.

I certainly wouldn't suggest you pay extra for a glass cockpit plane right now unless there are no other options or you just like it.
 
I get worried when I see private pilots doing all of their training (or most) in a G1000 a/c. I bet their scan sucks on a regular six pack, but thats just a guess of mine. Don't do it! $2000 is like 30 hours you can fly in a Cessna 152 or even better a downpayment on your own Cessna 152.
 
You guys do realize that Cessna isn't making planes with dials anymore right? The farther we get into the future, the more difficult it will be to fly a plane with dials.

Many flight schools are ditching their older model planes in favor of newer planes on lease back. The more this happens the more glass will be the only choice.

Cessna is lobbying to get the retractable requirement removed from the commercial so nearly everyone can do all their ratings in glass planes. Already, you can make it trough every rating without ever touching a dialed plane if you school has a Twinstar.

I think it is great for the industry, one of the knocks has always been that the planes are so old and normal people don't want to fly planes from the 70s and earlier. All the new goodies are just bringing more people into it.

Anyone know if that new Cessna sport plane will be glass or dials? I haven't heard for sure yet?
 
All the new goodies may be bringing more people into it but at what price? Rental rates are now astronomical, eyah I know a lot of that is due to gas but still... If I want to go rent a plane and tool around on my own on a weekend there's no way I'd be willing to pay the extra 30-50 bucks an hour to rent the new cessna with glass when the 1960s steam gauge one works just fine and is 70 bucks instead of 120 an hour. Glass is cool and all but definitely not worth the money.
 
Hey Timbuff,

I'm taking lessons in a smaller town in CO just at my local FBO.

Now I'm concerned maybe that I'm being over charged in other areas as well.

Here are the fees. Please tell me if you think they're reasonable.

$100/hr. for a 1978 Cessna Skyhawk
$40/hr. for an instructor (also charged for time we're on the ground)

Thank you all so much for your help. Thank you for welcoming me so well to Jet Careers!:)
 
Prices vary between geographic location. $100 bucks seems kind of high but not obviously rip-off high. Best bet is to check other FBOs in Colorado and see what their prices.
In Colorado Springs a 172P is about $90/hr.
 
Timbuff10 said:
Many flight schools are ditching their older model planes in favor of newer planes on lease back. The more this happens the more glass will be the only choice.

Cessna is lobbying to get the retractable requirement removed from the commercial so nearly everyone can do all their ratings in glass planes. Already, you can make it trough every rating without ever touching a dialed plane if you school has a Twinstar.

I think it is great for the industry, one of the knocks has always been that the planes are so old and normal people don't want to fly planes from the 70s and earlier. All the new goodies are just bringing more people into it.
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A few flight schools are leasing back newer airplanes...MOST flight schools still have and will continue to have older style aircraft.

As for Cessna...GREAT thats what we need are the big manufacturers telling the FAA how to do there business. Here yah go timmy...hop into the jet. I know you can't run the radios, read guages or do checklists...but don't worry about that because first we need you to learn how to retract the landing gear.


And if you think rental rates skyrocketing are going to bring more people in your wrong wrong wrong. What kept most people away before was the fact that it cost 60 bucks an hour to rent an airplane...the fact that the airplane is prettier now isn't gonna want to make them go OH! shiny paint 120 an hour...SWEET!
 
Future DIA Pilot said:
Hey Timbuff,

I'm taking lessons in a smaller town in CO just at my local FBO.

Now I'm concerned maybe that I'm being over charged in other areas as well.

Here are the fees. Please tell me if you think they're reasonable.

$100/hr. for a 1978 Cessna Skyhawk
$40/hr. for an instructor (also charged for time we're on the ground)

Thank you all so much for your help. Thank you for welcoming me so well to Jet Careers!:)
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I don't know what shool it is you are talking about but that does seem a bit high for an older model cessna. I would think 80-90/hr is a fair price for a 172 from the 1970s/early 80s. A new one in the Denver area typically goes for up to $110 an hour while a G1000 will be around $120ish.

Be careful if your school just has 1 G1000 and then 5 older 172s. If you start in the G1000 and it goes down for mx or is booked up, it will be hard to get real far in your training at a good pace. Same goes for the older plane. If they just have one or two of those and then 5-6 new 172s then switching back and forth may be detrimental to your training.

$40 for the CFI is a good deal in the area there.

Good luck and have fun with it!
 
I would fly the cheapest safe aircraft you can find - if it has glass so be, but more than likely it will have dials. TBH a glass cockpit is a moot point when it comes to airlines - there are many many other far more important things that will dictate if you get an airline job. Professionalism, total flying experience being the top 2, beyond that there might be some pluses, but really if you have the two you are pretty set!
 
Texasspilot said:
A few flight schools are leasing back newer airplanes...MOST flight schools still have and will continue to have older style aircraft.

As for Cessna...GREAT thats what we need are the big manufacturers telling the FAA how to do there business. Here yah go timmy...hop into the jet. I know you can't run the radios, read guages or do checklists...but don't worry about that because first we need you to learn how to retract the landing gear.


And if you think rental rates skyrocketing are going to bring more people in your wrong wrong wrong. What kept most people away before was the fact that it cost 60 bucks an hour to rent an airplane...the fact that the airplane is prettier now isn't gonna want to make them go OH! shiny paint 120 an hour...SWEET!
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Prices are going up, that is a fact of life. Eventually those planes from the 70s are just going to be flat out unairworthy. The time is coming, and it is coming pretty fast especially for the trainer types with a million hard landings by people who don't know what the flare is.

Look at the flight lines across the country, I have seen it after flying in many parts of the country from coast to coast over the past few years. Flight schools are going away, the flight schools that are able to stay in business are getting or already have newer model airplanes. Today if you get a new Cessna it is glass. At the airport I recently started CFIing at there were as many as 9 schools on the field a decade ago. Today there is only one with all new airplanes except for the old 172RG which is only used for commercial training.

I see your points and mildy agree with them, the last thing we need is Cessna and Piper telling the FAA what rules to make but to me I see nothing wrong with removing retract requirement, maybe require that the commercial rating be done in a high performance a/c instead... That actually makes more sense to me.

I never said higher rates are going to bring in more people. I do think this new sport plane will bring in a lot of people though. If Cessna can get their new plane to the market for 100 grand or so, people will flock to it. Prices will probably drop to less than $60-70 hr for the plane.

In fact, I am thinking if these user fees go through the new sport planes will be about the only affordable way for the average joe to learn how to fly.
 
Properly maintained there is no reason why a plane can't fly safely for 60+ years if there are no life-limiting parts that are a pain to replace.
 
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