Do (can) any of use the old E6B wizwheel?

[minitour]

Much prefer the E6B to the electronic computers. I can actually use them quicker/more accurately than the electric ones.

...and I always make sure my students know how to use them. You never know when their batteries are going to mysteriously die on a checkride, or in actual, or...

-mini

 

[A Squared]

Never used an e6b, military pilots use the Jeppeson CR computers, is the e6b something sportys sells?

Actually, the e6b at one time was a military issue item.

I can still use one, and occasionally I do. Our ops manual requires us to carry one, so I have one shoved in some corner of my flight bag.

 

[dseagrav]

I was told to get one because using a calculator is cheating. Punching numbers is more prone to error than having to use the manual computer because you get complacent with it faster, or something like that. I have one of the metal ones, it's pretty decently sized and heavy, so I bet I could incapacitate or kill someone with the slide if I had to. Aim for the eyes! Tell them sandpounder terrerists to just bring it, I can fight off any cockpit intrusion with my mighty E6B!

 

[siucavflight]

I find that it is quicker to use than the CR-2, but either way the FMS really does everything that the E6-B could.

 

[Gorilla]

Any FMC ever produced will tell you more than an e6b. I'm surprised so many guys still use them, at least in the jets, and that they are still required by some companies.

 

[Waldom]

I keep a CR-3 handy in the cockpit while working an FMS-equipped airplane although about the only thing I commonly use it for is converting U.S. gallons to liters for fuel requests overseas. A smaller CR-5 used to suffice until my aging eyes made a switch to the larger "Braile" version advisable. It is also there in case all the magic quits on an ocean crossing and we end up dead-reckoning, although the chances for that are infinitesimal on this equipment. [Yes, I still remember how to use the "wind" side of the computer.]

I use it as the sole means of navigation in my Cub because I specifically don't want a GPS aboard when I'm flying that airplane. I enjoy pilotage and dead-reckoning navigation and maintain proficiency in those skills.

I prefer the Jeppesen CR series of computer to the E-6B type due to their relative compactness and lighter weight.

On another note that might engender some dicussion, I believe all pilots should aquire competence in pilotage and dead-reckoning navigation during their initial training. I guess that knowledge is still required on the written and practical tests for a Private Pilot's licence, although that wouldn't be obvious after encountering some of the recently trained pilots I have lately. GPS and for that matter VOR and LF radio navigation are wonderful tools that also need to be mastered in training, but since all navigation methods are based on the fundamentals of dead-reckoning, a good grounding in it's basic principles is necessary.

 

[PacoPollo]

I have an E6B in my watch.

 

[pilotyip]

Understanding the E6B is the basis of understanding DR Navigation. I am still teaching how to use the E6B. It is like Celestial Navigation, it is becoming a lost art. BTW I used it as almost my primary Navigation computer crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific i nthe 60's and 70's. I am teaching my grandson cross country planning on my Military issued E6B from 1968.

 

[stearnst]

Used to use it all the time. I could do everything with it except the radius of action stuff. Anyone ever figure that out? More importantly, anyone ever use that haha?

For a radius of action problem on a CR, you take groundspeed out + groundspeed back, and that goes on top of your total minutes available in fuel. Then look underneath your groundspeed back, and it will give you the time in minutes to your point of no return. Take that time, apply it to your groundspeed out, and you've got your radius of action. There are a couple ways of simplifying the equation a little bit (effective TAS, mainly), but for the sake of explaining it, that's all you gotta do.

Yeah yeah...I'm a nerd. The good thing is I've never had any practical use for the equation.

 

[wrxpilot]

Yeah when i did my training the instructor I had hated the electronic ones and forced me to use the whiz wheel. It's kinda stuck and i've just always used it since. Mainly because i'm a cheap bastard and wouldnt shell out for a new one lol but seriously it does the job.

I hate the electric flight computers. All those buttons to push when it's bumpy, batteries that could die, etc. The manual wheel works much better IMO.