by Rich » Mon May 18, 2020 11:06 pm
Once upon a time (1970's) I gave a lot of flight instruction, often in customers' airplanes. So I would jump from type to type, often in a single day. I always had to familiarize myself with the specific airplane, not just the type. Big differences abounded even then.
Fuel systems were the biggest difference, with details of LG retraction systems probably a very close second. There were also routinely differences in panel layouts, and avionics. Even the steam gauges had all sorts of nuances you'd better understand. (Ever flown with a vacuum system driven, not by a vacuum pump, but a Venturi tube?) It was also useful to know (TADA!) how the trim worked. Many have a tab on the elevator (possibly anti-servo) but others worked by changing the horizontal stabilizer incidence angle.
This hasn't really changed. One could argue it's potentially worse, since those old birds are still flying today. But, additionally, now you may or may not have glass panels. And each such model operates differently. A given plane might have all the integrated goodies (ADS-B In/out, XM, TCAS, etc.), and another one of the same type on the same flight line has some or none of the extras.
Once upon a time (1970's) I gave a lot of flight instruction, often in customers' airplanes. So I would jump from type to type, often in a single day. I always had to familiarize myself with the specific airplane, not just the type. Big differences abounded even then.
Fuel systems were the biggest difference, with details of LG retraction systems probably a very close second. There were also routinely differences in panel layouts, and avionics. Even the steam gauges had all sorts of nuances you'd better understand. (Ever flown with a vacuum system driven, not by a vacuum pump, but a Venturi tube?) It was also useful to know (TADA!) how the trim worked. Many have a tab on the elevator (possibly anti-servo) but others worked by changing the horizontal stabilizer incidence angle.
This hasn't really changed. One could argue it's potentially worse, since those old birds are still flying today. But, additionally, now you may or may not have glass panels. And each such model operates differently. A given plane might have all the integrated goodies (ADS-B In/out, XM, TCAS, etc.), and another one of the same type on the same flight line has some or none of the extras.