Being a luddite

[Shiny Side Up]

I'm not sure if there's a better way to decribe it, but its how I feel anymore when it comes to aviation. Its not that I don't use new stuff, I'm just not terribly excited about it, but that seems to make me the odd man out on the airport these days. Everyday it seems there's some new app, that someone comes rushing across the field excited that its "finally here", or more often "finally out in Canada", that is going to make their life so much easier. I'm trying to be really interested in it, but I fear I'm just not putting on good enough of an act anymore. Not that I don't put these things to use when I need them, but I just don't have that orgasmic experience that many seem to when they do.

Yeah, I realise that ther's probably something wrong with me, I still fly to go see what's out the window and for the most part take simple pleasure turning fuel into noise.

I dunno, I personally think some of the advances anymore are pretty underwhelming. I was never screwed up by a monochrome GPS, so 16 bit color is just nice, but its really hard to get excited moving up to 256, or HD color or whatever it is these days. Stuff without touch screen is considered primitive now. I just don't get it.

Anyhow, there's your SSU rant of the week, critisize if you like.

[iflyforpie]

I hear you.

A couple of my coworkers can't keep their eyes off their iPads in flight while flying through some of the best scenery imaginable. My iPad pretty much stays tucked away or on the ground while my tattered 1:250,000 occupies my lap for reference. I'm rocking a GPS92 that works great all of the time. I even pulled out the whiz wheel when I was getting close to my endurance to figure out Bingo Fuel for going home.

For Apps, one that I use all of the time is Pilot Whiz for its Weight and Balance. It gives weight and moment very fast which is handy for odd loads. Another one I have tried to use is Topo Canada, which gives me all of my maps in electronic form (I don't use VNCs very often, I did earlier this week and was reminded of how crappy they are for showing what the earth looks like ).

Still haven't got an electronic logbook other than the excel spreadsheet I made years ago.

[North Shore]

A couple of my coworkers can't keep their eyes off their iPads in flight while flying through some of the best scenery imaginable

Anyone who uses his/her iPad in flight is an idiot of the eighth water...


ps. Luddites smash things, and you don't do that; you're not scared of the new technology, so you're not a technophobe; I think the correct term would be a simple-lifer

[Shiny Side Up]

I dunno, sometimes I feel like going all Hulk and smashing stuff. Fortunately for iPad lovers I don't act out on it.

[akoch]

No worries, it is all the same for all of us. Having done something for long time does it to you. I am finding it to be hard to get excited about advancements in my professional field, it has started to look all the same some time ago to me too.

Try changing what you do, this seems to work.

And on the other hand, there is always another generation before your times that felt exactly this. In their opinion the radio aids and other crap distracting from flying was as unnecessary just same way. Two eyeballs and the wind in the wires - that's all that was necessary.

[Colonel Sanders]

People fly because they enjoy it. A lot like
riding a motorcycle.

But you don't always have to ride the latest
and greatest motorcycle to enjoy the ride.

This simple truth eludes many.

There is plenty of superficial fashion involved
with flying an airplane - just like women's shoes
and clothes and hair.

If superficial fashion spins your crank, who am
I to come between you and your happiness?

[akoch]

I ride a 250cc dirt bike. Has no instrumentation, just pure raw affair. Who am I to say that a nice GoldWing or a BMW tourer is any less fun? Same idea.

[digits_]

I am a website developer and have an above average interest in computers, but I don't get excited about those "apps" either. Especially all thos "new" aviation ones. They don't do anything new at all. Roughly they do one of two things: tell you where you are, or calculate something a little bit more accurate than you can do by yourself.

I do get excited by new hardware things to, since these things acutally *do* something new. First time I worked with a DME, first time I saw a storm scope. And yes, first time I saw a gps. But not when I see a *new* software update for the gps.

The problem with focussing on all those apps, is that nothing really new gets developed. Since the development of the iphone/ipad with all the apps, what really new things have been developed in IT world ? Except for the google glasses, I can't really think of something.

[JungianJugular]

People fly because they enjoy it. A lot like
riding a motorcycle.

But you don't always have to ride the latest
and greatest motorcycle to enjoy the ride.

This simple truth eludes many.

As if flying through the air isn't amazing enough.

[Colonel Sanders]

I don't pay much attention to fashion and
the latest trends, I am afraid.

Things of quality have no fear of time.

I have flown a lot of airplanes in a lot of
places doing a lot of things for a lot of
decades, and honestly, if all you ever
do in aviation is fly a taildragger with
no electrical system off a nice grass strip,
you won't have missed much.

[CpnCrunch]

I guess someone showed you the new VNCs on Foreflight

Actually, I find that a little bit of technology aids the experience of flying. If I'm not terribly familiar with the place I'm flying to, I find air nav pro very useful in verifying that I'm not about to bust class C airspace, or that I'm heading towards the correct reporting point.

Of course you do need to be able to use it properly, and not have your head down too much. I like air nav pro because you can just tap the screen to go "direct to" somewhere. Or you can just switch on the "extended track" and instantly see where you're headed without even needing to bother entering routes at all. I've had to temporarily take control while someone was trying to figure out how to do a 'direct to' on a Garmin Aera and we started heading towards the ground - that isn't the easiest thing to use.

[Old Dog Flying]

. and I both learned to fly deadly taildraggers off of a grass strip; no electrics, no radio. no nav aids except for the whiskey compass , a piece of paper and the MkI eyeball///but then we're both Dinosaurs.

The constant use of the digital toys in the cockpit is akin to that horrible disease, Cranialvascularrectalitis. Ask your doctor about a cure!

Barney C-GFXH

[Shiny Side Up]

I guess someone showed you the new VNCs on Foreflight

Repeatedly, ad nauseum.

Actually, I find that a little bit of technology aids the experience of flying.

And don't get me wrong, so do I, I put foreflight to use to on occasion, its pretty neat if you need it, when you need it. But if I'm going to go burn around the patch within sight of the airport in a cub, I don't need an hours' consultation of the damn thing. Its all about time and place. Foreflight is designed to save you time when you need it - which it ain't if you don't. But that said...

I ride a 250cc dirt bike. Has no instrumentation, just pure raw affair. Who am I to say that a nice GoldWing or a BMW tourer is any less fun? Same idea.

Why is it when I'm having fun with my low tech does that guy on his gold wing (or watever is shinier, or newer, or whatever) always feel the need to interrupt me, seek me out and give me the sales pitch about what he's got? Why can't I be left alone to do my thing? There seems to be one in every crowd and there's something about me that attracts them.

[akoch]

I ride a 250cc dirt bike. Has no instrumentation, just pure raw affair. Who am I to say that a nice GoldWing or a BMW tourer is any less fun? Same idea.

Why is it when I'm having fun with my low tech does that guy on his gold wing (or watever is shinier, or newer, or whatever) always feel the need to interrupt me, seek me out and give me the sales pitch about what he's got? Why can't I be left alone to do my thing? There seems to be one in every crowd and there's something about me that attracts them.

Perhaps that's their pickup line with you?

[Shiny Side Up]

Perhaps that's their pickup line with you?

Its possible, I'm a handsome devil after all.

[burninggoats]

For the most part I agree. But I will say I am excited for company to implement iPads, because Jeppson and their philosiphy of having binders that are 1" too small for how many plates are in them, and having to update them every 14 days makes me a little bit stabby.

other than that, I don't really care too much about other apps, fancy avionics. They're nice, but I take pride in the fact that I (in the children of magenta generation) can still use needles.

[swixtt]

Funny thread... Same goes for those darn digital cameras.

[Beefitarian]

Initially I want to agree, i just can't, I enjoy old things updated with the great stuff we have now.

Digital cameras and cell phones are so magic even shiny takes them for granted. Sometimes too much of a good thing is bad but... A phone in your pocket that can display your position, post here, take more than 25 pictures, you can instantly display on an 80' television, in your RV while enjoying a blended drink, at the Oshkosh airport? Tha's just beautiful!

I like 55 Chevys but they're best with electronic ignitions and new stereos.

This reminds me of one of the first threads I ruined here.

[radubc]

So, let's see. You, people, just love FLYING. You do it in small AIRPLANES, with or without an ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, but usually using a RADIO. You like to do this using MAPS and NAVIGATION TECHNIQUES, or black and white GPSs. Don't forget that the things written in caps were once new technologies, same things you now dismiss and of which you make fun. Moreover, they were made possible by people with attitudes exactly opposite from yours. What does this tell you?

[Colonel Sanders]

I prefer chocolate to vanilla. Strawberry makes my bum itch.

[Beefitarian]

What does this tell you?

Be careful around the colonel. You never know where he might put a milkshake?

I went camping on the weekend and forgot the iPad. It was pretty good overall but I missed having easy access to music.

[radubc]

Oh, I have nothing against the colonel. I jumped in after a lot of people presented an idea that I found wrong, and I explained why. Of course, my explanation is open for debate. This is why I posted it on a public forum. So, I'm open to discuss any valid point, and I'll ignore any personal attack.

[Heliian]

I think more people should take the time to question things that are new and seek out their flaws, we can't all just blindly bow to the newest "app" or "gizmo" and follow the herd off the cliff. Independent thought and discussion is what makes life interesting. It sounds like the guy who can't go "directto" on his garmin just needs more practice, not be lowered to only using the almost reliable ipad.

btw, I think the ipad is for dummies, it has no expandability and is made of inferior materials, but it sure is more shiney than anything else that gets dropped through a chin bubble.

[Beefitarian]

I would enjoy a hateful tirade directed at apple but I must admit auto incorrect and an incident with the Doug's water dish not withstanding. My experiences with this and an iphone has been excellent. I have not got on board the navigation app band wagon with my CASARA buddies but understand their enthusiasm.

Even auto fill has been overall more helpful to me. I just understand that sometimes it makes work.
Note: the alternate spelling for "dog's" left intact for demonstration purposes.

[akoch]

Oh, I have nothing against the colonel. I jumped in after a lot of people presented an idea that I found wrong, and I explained why. Of course, my explanation is open for debate. This is why I posted it on a public forum. So, I'm open to discuss any valid point, and I'll ignore any personal attack.

No, your explanation is correct and to the point. It is objective and is what an engineer-type would put forward (myself included).
Now, we are all humans. And there is just an inevitable layer of feelings - nostalgia, fear/rejection of new things, comfort in familiar etc. You just can't help, it is part of life