March 22, 2022, 05:05 PM
sig2392flying then and now?
I have not flown for a few years and a much longer since flying IFR.
I came across an old flight bag tucked away in a closet.
Inside was a leather binders filled with Jepp charts
Does anyone use paper approach plates anymore?
An SCG-9 Jeppesen flight computer that looks like a slide rule.
A manual from a 1979 skyhawk C-172.
Are these all museum pieces now?
What are people using now? I am guessing tablets.
Do pilots keep paper as backups if the tablet dies?
March 22, 2022, 05:20 PM
AKSuperDuallyMost don't keep paper backups. Most modern avionics have the charts built-in now (full IFR), the backup is a tablet (or 2). A lot of avionics will speak directly to the tablets now also.
I did my advanced radio nav class in college with an E6B. No electronic calculators were allowed. That was the mid 2000's though. They probably don't even teach the class anymore.
I still buy paper VFR charts, but I only do it every other year or so. My tablet keeps me legal.
I print my primary and alternate plates just prior to a flight, because I like the paper.
I don't know anyone else who still does that. Even my father and all his retired flight buddies all fly with an Ipad these days.
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"The trouble with our Liberal friends...is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." Ronald Reagan, 1964
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"Arguing with some people is like playing chess with a pigeon. It doesn't matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon will just take a shit on the board, strut around knocking over all the pieces and act like it won.. and in some cases it will insult you at the same time." DevlDogs55, 2014

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March 22, 2022, 05:22 PM
Fly-SigEverybody seems to use tablets, at least in the civilian world. When we'd get new hires into the airlines they all had subscriptions to inflight services to include streaming real-time weather and all the charts. Actually more capability than we had in the modern new-from-the-factory airliners!
Even the training aircraft have flat panel displays with all kinds of data capability. No more needle-ball-airspeed. None of the new hires had even flown a real NDB approach.
In the airline we were required to have two operable tablets with current databases. No paper charts or SOP in the cockpit!
I don't miss hauling around a 40 pound bag of Jeps, nor do I miss doing all the revisions. Were I flying single-pilot small aircraft these days I would carry some relevant paper charts. I always preferred the NOS charts to Jeps, and one of those books would be small enough to carry.
Nobody uses the old slide-rule or whiz-wheel any more in real flying afaik.
March 22, 2022, 08:56 PM
TomVI thought this was going to be about Suits vs. Pajamas.

March 22, 2022, 09:01 PM
V-TailThe Old Guy is a throw-back. The EFB was always backed up by whatever I thought was the bare minimum of paper to get me there in the event of total electronic failure.
That might mean a couple of sectionals for a VFR day flight, or IFR enroute and approach charts for the planned destination and, if applicable, the alternate.
That would all fit in a single small Jepp binder loaded for the trip, instead of the pre-EFB 40 pound catalog case. I preferred Jeppesen's format for approach charts, and pre-EFB when I carried a full load of paper, I liked the NOS enroute charts better than Jeppesen, so it was mix-and-match for me. For the occasional trips outside of my subscription area, I did use the NOS approach charts, they were easier to obtain for spur-of-the-minute trips.
I always had, and maintained proficiency with, a standard E6B and the Jeppesen CR type equivalent. Because I had used these for decades, I found them easier and faster to use than the electronic calculator types. In fact, I took the ATP Knowledge Exam with an E6B.
And yes, NDB approach charts were included if the airplane was equipped with ADF; I actually maintained proficiency with this antique.
In The Beginning (of my flying days) I sought out one of the few remaining four-legged A-N ranges and flew around the area, playing with it, to see what it was like for the early radio navigation pioneers. Anybody of y'all ever fly using one of these?