Analog Or Digital

[alphonso]

I just figured out that I look at the gauges in an analog sort of way i.e. "Oooh, I've got just a little torque left before the red line". This is opposed to the digital way i.e. "Oooh, I've got 8.7% torque left".

 

Is everyone else digital? Have I not been looking at instruments correctly? "Yup, the oil temperature is 65". Or do you scan the gauge and say "It's between bad and bad and that's good."

 

Needless to say it takes more time to be digital but one acquires more information.

 

Any thoughts?

[Ryan]

I like the best of both worlds...digital guages that read like analog. You can give a quick sweep, or get the exact reading if you like. They both get shown. :up:

[arctic_front]

when it comes to critical guages, analog type are the best. digital guages don't give you a 'trend' analog type at least let you bknow that you are moving towards the 'red' in a form that lets you know that things are happening slow/fast. things like oil temp, or pressure are fine in digital, but never TOT

 

Just my opinion

[407 Driver]

These work.....a bit of both

 

[cap]

Don't like mine either way-----analog or digital. I want all mine turned so that the red lines (or do-not-exceed lines) are at the 6 o'clock position. A micro-second glance will tell me everything I want to know. Depends how, who and where you were trained , that's all.

 

The major a/c manufacturers in the F/W world are all going that way also. Out with the round analog or digital guages and in with all guages being vertical, long and thin and reading like a thermometer. It's been proven already to negate the chances of a mis-read in an emergency situation as my method helps also, so take a wistfull look at your round guages, whether digital or analog because they are on their last years.

[arctic_front]

Cap: as long as you get the right info at at a glace, and don'y have to 'think' about them, then its all good. as old fashioned as analog guages are, you can get a 'sense' of what happening in an istant. purely digital guages give you hard numbers, but don't tell yuou the speed things are happening. the digital numbers are just scrolling too fast. we have the Litton TOT dials in our jetboxes.....they give both a digital read-out and an analog trend. they work well...and also have the tell-tale record of any over temps. It takes a special key to re-set them too...and pilots don't have the key.

[Over-Talk]

Arctic Front, what machine has strictly digital (numerical) read-outs ??

Did I miss something ?? Yes, just numerical would not be good.

 

Guys, are we talking digital calculation or display here, or both ???

 

Remember that digital-versus-analog is a way of calculating the information, not necessarily the way it is displayed;

i.e Bell 407 information is calculated digitally (i.e. with a computer). But some information (Ng, EGT, Tq) is displayed with "new-age/fake" LCD needle-bars and numbers, while other info is displayed with an "old-style/real" needle (Np, Nr), but no numbers.

 

On the other hand, the Litton/Jetbox info is calculated in analog, but then presented in digital (numerical) fashion, plus an analog needle.

 

407s, B3s and other 'FADEC' or glass cockpit instruments give some form of "needle" or "bar" display as well as the numerical read-out.

 

Regardless of how it is calculated, the new system of display is better, because you get a needle and a numerical read-out. The needle gives the quick visual trend, and the numbers gives you excellent accuracy.

You also get a tattle-tale memory system, plus the 'needles' and 'numbers' start to flash as exceedances approach.

[cap]

Arctic_Front ----- you'll have to excuse me because I'm used to analog and one time I could only glance when I was learning. If I had to read or "think about it" you wouldn't be reading this now. So it's "force of habit" and has stood me in good stead over the years. As a result, when the the clock and the guages get to approach 6 o'clock, then I usually say it''s time to back-off AND go for supper anyway. So maybe someday in the future you will here some engineer buddy wonder why guages were all turned crooked to the 6 o'clock position on the 204/205 he was working on and you can say "Geez, I wonder if that was Cap?".

[arctic_front]

Arctic_Front ----- you'll have to excuse me because I'm used to analog and one time I could only glance when I was learning. If I had to read or "think about it" you wouldn't be reading this now. So it's "force of habit" and has stood me in good stead over the years. As a result, when the the clock and the guages get to approach 6 o'clock, then I usually say it''s time to back-off AND go for supper anyway. So maybe someday in the future you will here some engineer buddy wonder why guages were all turned crooked to the 6 o'clock position on the 204/205 he was working on and you can say "Geez, I wonder if that was Cap?".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Cap: our 205 has all the dials turned every which way too.....as one high-time pilot I worked with a number of years ago said " you don't just fly a Bell medium, you MOVE in"

 

Over-talk: I was only refering to a numerical read-out, not analog or digital input. As long as the dials are reliable and accurate, you know, like the AS 350's NR guage, its all ok. ( <--- joke inserted )

[Helilog56]

As you pointed out Cap....I have always repositioned my gauges as necessary to get a better view also. The problem that arose was when I had to do my PPC on the 212, and the inspector doing my ride went absolutley sideways when he looked in the machine and noticed non- manufacturer configuration. His military/Coast Guard background never prepared him for our world of vertical reference work. The ensuing debate between us was only alleviated when one of our good natured engineers said he would put everything back to "standard configuration"......The next inspector, two years later thought our cockpit arrangement was an excellent idea, as he stated "whatever helps you maintain a more efficient and safer cockpit operation" was fine with him. Would it not be nice if "all"T.C. guys were like that?