An IFD Pilot's Best Friend!

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   Excuse me for venting a little bit here, but time and again there are posts where pilots ask questions about how to do some of the most basic functions on the IFD.  Others will play with the sim until they "figure it out".  In some cases, there is not even an understanding of what screens do what.  It seems that reading the manual is somehow verboten.  Or that spending a few minutes watching the Avidyne tutorials is just not worth the effort.
More than one pilot has come on here trashing the IFD because it wouldn't do what they wanted when an instructor was in the right seat.  So both student and instructor walk away trash talking the unit.  They come to the forum and learn that what they wanted to do was really quite simple and straight forward and it was clearly explained in the manual.  A quick search of the manual can save an enormous amount of trial and error time on the sim.  It will also indicate the best way or multiple ways to do something, not just the one way that was "figured out".  

I find it disturbing that pilots are flying around with an IFD trying to figure it out on the fly.  The rhetorical question is: Why do they have enough interest to come here and ask one question at a time, but aren't willing to sit down and read the manual or watch tutorials?  It has a wealth of information that is invaluable for both initial learning and as an ongoing reference.

CTRL-F and the IFD manual can be a pilot's best friend!

Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled program.

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Bob H Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Jan 2018 Location: NH - KMHT Status: Offline Points: 290	Post Options Post Reply Quote Bob H Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Topic: An IFD Pilot's Best Friend! Posted: 18 Aug 2021 at 1:28am
	Excuse me for venting a little bit here, but time and again there are posts where pilots ask questions about how to do some of the most basic functions on the IFD. Others will play with the sim until they "figure it out". In some cases, there is not even an understanding of what screens do what. It seems that reading the manual is somehow verboten. Or that spending a few minutes watching the Avidyne tutorials is just not worth the effort. More than one pilot has come on here trashing the IFD because it wouldn't do what they wanted when an instructor was in the right seat. So both student and instructor walk away trash talking the unit. They come to the forum and learn that what they wanted to do was really quite simple and straight forward and it was clearly explained in the manual. A quick search of the manual can save an enormous amount of trial and error time on the sim. It will also indicate the best way or multiple ways to do something, not just the one way that was "figured out". I find it disturbing that pilots are flying around with an IFD trying to figure it out on the fly. The rhetorical question is: Why do they have enough interest to come here and ask one question at a time, but aren't willing to sit down and read the manual or watch tutorials? It has a wealth of information that is invaluable for both initial learning and as an ongoing reference. CTRL-F and the IFD manual can be a pilot's best friend! Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled program.
	Bob

paulr Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Status: Offline Points: 545	Post Options Post Reply Quote paulr Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Aug 2021 at 7:49am
	If you're using Foreflight, add the IFD pilot's guide to its Documents feature and then you'll always have it with you. You can look up things in cruise, or on the ground-- it's a great tool for refreshing your memory of how something actually works or "how do I..."

dmtidler Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 12 Feb 2016 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 616	Post Options Post Reply Quote dmtidler Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Aug 2021 at 8:13am
	+1

PA23 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 12 Oct 2019 Location: MMU Status: Offline Points: 292	Post Options Post Reply Quote PA23 Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Aug 2021 at 9:13am
	I actually have all the aircraft manuals scanned in and available on my tablet, eg POH, flight manual supplement, pilot guides etc and I leave the hard copies at home. It saves me about 12 lbs in the airplane and everything is available to me should I need it and not in the back of the airplane under the rear seat. Oh and yes for part 91 operations (part 135 and 121 may have different rules) this is absolutely permitted, see FAA's AC 91-78 paragraph 6, says in a nutshell that as long as it is functionally equivalent to the original (simple PDF file on a tablet is functionally equivalent). then you are good.