Comments on Monologue of a Connoisseur of Superfluous Verbiage: Flying over the Grand Canyon

Excellent point, Gabe. After my induction into the...

2008-11-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

Excellent point, Gabe. After my induction into the ranks of pilots, I learned a little secret: only one of those gauges is actually functional (the "am I there yet?" indicator). All of the others are there to make you look smarter. The reason that big planes (like 747s) cost more isn't because they're bigger or faster; it's because they have a lot more gauges, buttons, and levers. I mean, think how smart you'd look sitting in one of these. It costs a lot to appear smarter.

Seriously, I have to admit that I didn't use all of the gauges while I was flying. The airspeed, heading, altitude, vertical speed (d altitude(t)/dt), VOR heading, artificial horizon, engine speed, GPS, and fuel indicators were useful. I don't even know what the other ones are.

I knew it! Bruce, you have just confirmed a long h...

2008-11-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

I knew it! Bruce, you have just confirmed a long held suspicion of mine. Every time I fly and walk past the cockpit where the door is conveniently open wide enough so that you can see the million convoluted-looking controls I decide that one of two things is going on:
A - String theory is in fact true and for some reasons pilots are the only ones that need to worry about navigating through the extra 10 dimensions.
or B - Pilots are ensuring their own job security, something they've been concerned about ever since the release of Microsoft's Flight Simulator.

Seriously though, how can you need that many controls when you've only got 6 plane-directions to move in? I'm now convinced that only every tenth control is legit and that flying is quite simple. Maybe they will let you land it next time?