Garmin G1000 what???

Recently the University of North Dakota made the decision to switch its fleet from piper warriors to Cessna C172S equipped with Garmin G1000 glass cockpits. For those of you not already familiar with the G1000 it is a great tool for pilots. It consists of two 10" displays that are split up into a PFD(primary flight display) and an MFD(multi function display). These two displays are powered by multiple different devices. There is an AHRS(attitude and heading Reference system) which controls the attitude indicator, and heading indicator. The ADC(air data computer) is for all the pitot static instruments, airspeed, VSI, altimeter, wind vector, and TAS. Other pieces of equipment are the engine instruments, magnetometer(for heading information) and GPS and Comms.

The PFD shows all your flight instruments; airspeed, attitude indicator, altimeter, VSI, heading indicator, HSI, turn coordinator, and a small map if you want it. The MFD can do multiple things, as the name says. Usually is will show the engine instruments on the left side of the screen and a map covering the rest of the screen. There are also small steam standby steam gauges in case you loose your PFD and MFD.

The G1000 is amazingly simple and effective and dramatically improves situational awareness. However, for a private pilot who should be focusing on the outside references to fly the aircraft I have noticed that they are becoming more and more focused on whats happening inside the aircraft and not outside.

Because of this one of my favorite things to do to a private pilot student is to turn the contrast on the PFD all the way down so that it is basically a black screen. This forces the pilot to look outside and fly the aircraft with outside references and by feel.

You would be surprised how much students rely on the PFD to keep the aircraft level. Initially it takes a little bit for a student to keep the airplane level and on a heading but very quickly they pick it up. I've also noticed that because of this when you do turn the screen back on the students aren't looking inside as much. It improves their piloting abilities and makes everything they do better.

The G1000 is a great tool but we need to be able to fly an aircraft without it. To feel the aircraft, to hear the aircraft and understand what it is doing.