***sigh**** I am of course assuming that all of you guys are driving pre- 1970's vehicles for your daily transportation, that you don't own a computer or microwave (oh..I guess that can't be the case) and that your MTBF on your timex watch is only a few hours right.
Oh....and don't tell me you haven't lost your ASI, or even a cable driven speedometer before (sorry officer, my speedo is broken and I was driving by the tach).
True, but if the speedo cable on my motorcycle or car breaks, I can fix it myself for a few dollars. I don't have to send out the entire dashboard cluster to have it done.
I personally welcome the march of technology, especially with electronics. What I do not welcome are the expensive "all in one" gadgets. There is a reason that I still have a separate ipod, camera, and cell phone. The Garmin 296 is a wonderful product, but it is portable. If it breaks, the airplane is still airworthy.
I'd like to see electronic upgrades that could replace our instruments individually. Like I said before, don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Suppose some idiot tosses you a wrench, keys or something like that and it cracks the face of your MFD. Then what do you do? You can't be legal for VFR flight without it. The plane sits where it is until you get the unit back from the factory and have it installed.
It looks like even the engine gauges are part of it. That is a dangerous idea. Will people forget to monitor their oil pressure and temp? Do you have to scroll through a few pages to "scan switches and gauges"?
