Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihnp4.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!edsel!bentley!hudson!ihnp1!ihnp4!cfiaime From: cfiaime@ihnp4.UUCP (Jeff Williams) Newsgroups: net.aviation Subject: Re: aviation calculators Message-ID: <688@ihnp4.UUCP> Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 01:02:45 EST Article-I.D.: ihnp4.688 Posted: Mon Dec 3 01:02:45 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 07:20:25 EST References: <128@anwar.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 36 An aviation computer is a very personal thing. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the big, old, aluminum E6-B that I bought from my first instructor for a whopping $5. However, even though it will not warp in the sun, I find that I don't use it as much as I used to. Enter the Jeppeson Avstar electronic flight computer. This thing is fantastic for preflight calculations. Lets face it, the density altitude computations alone are worth the $50 that the calculator costs from the discount houses. I used it for my ATP written with good results. But, in the air it is, in my opinion, worthless. Consider, oh fellow aviators, just what it takes to enter a simple time, speed, and distance problem into one of these marvels of modern technology. One keystroke for each digit. One keystroke to define what the data is that you just entered. One keystroke to let the beast know that you are ready to see a result. While in flight, that is a lot of time with the head in the cockpit punching buttons. In flight, to keep tabs on myself, I use a Jeppeson CR-2 shirt pocket circular computer. You can set it once, and then check ground speeds just by looking at your clock and glancing at the computer. It doesn't need total recalculation for every checkpoint. Sure, a tweek of a knot or two, but that is a one-hand operaton. Oh indeed I tried my trusty Avstar in flight. In such machines as a King Air, a Funk, and even the Valmet Pik-23. The only machine it was really useful in was the Valmet, because I could easily convert IAS in Kilometers to Knots, then take that and convert the whole mess to TAS. It could be done on the CR-2, but what a pain. Of course, for the simplest flight computer, a watch with a "tachymeter" on it used to time the section lines... Jeff Williams AT&T Bell Laboratories ihnp4!cfiaime