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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