I remember my first flight as left-seater in a TAA (technically advanced aircraft). Too. Many. Buttons. And each switch, knob and button had multiple roles, depending on my stage of flight and the information I wanted to pull up or program into it. And harmony? Well, other than the integrated glass panels available on then-new Cirrii and Cessnas, those first TAAs were hybrids of systems from Avidyne, Bendix/King, Chelton, Dynon and Garmin. The logic of pulling up information or programming them was just different enough between the companies to make you cross-eyed trying to remember it all.
My first IFR student in a TAA—an aircraft equipped with an autopilot, a GPS navigator and a moving map—flew a new Cessna 182 with a first-generation Garmin 1000. What a difference, and what a challenge all on its own. Instead of pushing and pushing to get my student’s scan up to speed, we worked on decoding the vast amount of information he was being presented, and built his system knowledge, layer upon layer, as his blind-flying skills (almost a misnomer in an MFD-equipped aircraft) improved. Since this was before really good Garmin 1000 PC simulation was available, that meant pages and pages of manuals, combined with hours sitting on the ground with the aircraft plugged into ground power to get the finer points right. The good news is that’s not a bad way to learn glass panels.
