Flight Director: single or dual cue?

[Mooney in Oz]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:43 AM, Pinecone said:

Remember, the autopilot drives the FD cues.  So if you have the same autopilot, it will give you the same wrong info on the fancy new display.

Well said. In a busy moment when hand flying, it’s not hard to momentarily forget which mode is selected resulting in the FD indicating a command that is contrary to your intended manoeuvre.

For an easy example, takeoff in GA mode as per Garmin’s suggestion with the GFC500 then commence a turn and forgetting to change the mode. The FD bars will continue to indicate the takeoff straight ahead track during the turn, which can result in confusion if you are not onto it. You don’t want confusion when you’re in the soup.

I’ve used both dual and single cue. My preference is for the single cue.

[midlifeflyer]

7 hours ago, Mooney in Oz said:

Well said. In a busy moment when hand flying, it’s not hard to momentarily forget which mode is selected resulting in the FD indicating a command that is contrary to your intended manoeuvre.

For an easy example, takeoff in GA mode as per Garmin’s suggestion with the GFC500 then commence a turn and forgetting to change the mode. The FD bars will continue to indicate the takeoff straight ahead track during the turn, which can result in confusion if you are not onto it. You don’t want confusion when you’re in the soup.

I’ve used both dual and single cue. My preference is for the single cue.

Related- When I do transition training I teach turning the FD off when not using it for hand flying. Best example is the traffic pattern. Unless you plan to increase workload (or play  Cirrus crashing into a Metroliner) by twisting the heading bug to downwind, base, and final, Autopilot...OFF should be accompanied by FD...OFF.

[Andy95W]

11 hours ago, Mooney in Oz said:

For an easy example, takeoff in GA mode as per Garmin’s suggestion with the GFC500 then commence a turn and forgetting to change the mode. The FD bars will continue to indicate the takeoff straight ahead track during the turn, which can result in confusion if you are not onto it. You don’t want confusion when you’re in the soup.

 

Your example above is exactly why I recommend the dual cue system. If you have to fly a different heading, you will still have vertical guidance with the dual cue system. If nothing else, that will keep you from stalling or diving while you fix your heading/lateral requirements.

I’ve also found dual cue to be more precise when flying with it. 

[Jim Peace]

Dual cue and you want a sky pointer....I cant fly the ground pointer anymore...so annoying...