Just a benign note. Primary aircraft engine controls will probably
always be manual and "hard". Procedures will always have paper backups,
even if the manuals are also available via the glass in the flight
deck. Most navigation and related functions are already primary on
touch, or at least "soft switches" aligned with the touchscreen, but I
believe the FAA has requirements about hard instruments as backup (and
primary instruments always will be). I know nothing about military
aviation requirements, but often their aircraft are more conservative in
design than civilian equipment.
Touch screen controls are standard fare in consumer electronics, and one
of the main reasons is that such devices are flexible in use cases and
not very expensive. Hard controls have a fixed cost structure.
Consumer electronics are on a declining cost curve.
Note: I am an Elecraft employee.
73,
matt W6NIA
On 6/6/2016 5:52 PM, Kevin Stover wrote:
I agree totally.
One thing I never hope to see and thankfully probably won't is a pilot
reaching for a touch screen while the aircraft is doing + or - 50ft
"hops" in turbulence. Touch the screen to reduce thrust, slip of the
finger and the engines shut off.
What's the procedure for restarting engines in turbulence like that?
Wanna try that with a touch screen?
BTW, I'm the legally blind ham. Never did I mention in ANY email to
this list pilots or cockpits, military or commercial...PERIOD. Some of
you might do better focusing on your email editing and keyboard skills
and forget the touch screens. The local community college probably has
beginner computer classes available for continuing education credits.
I'm done.
On 6/6/2016 12:18 PM, [email protected] wrote:
As a developer of both hardware and software products that use touch
screens
I have mixed feelings.
My number one gripe with soft environments is the tendency to
continually
modify the environment and jam more and more functionality into the same
footprint. This either needs to be done with width or depth, take your
pick. Both Apple and Windows are horrible abusers. Every new
version of
their software requires users to hunt down functions that have been
moved or
crammed down. Functions that were originally intuitive are now
obfuscated
in the name of progress. Lack of consistency is extremely frustrating
for
most users.
Today because of the ease of soft environments it seems that
companies feel
compelled to continually bring a "new look" to each software revision of
their website or product. How many of you think Yahoo scored a home run
with NEO? In my opinion NEO is an absolute disaster. But corporate
egos
won't allow users out. How would you like someone mucking with your
beloved
radio in the name of pretty progress. I'll take consistency over
pretty and
modern every time. I'm buying a radio, I don't want an iPhone clone,
or an
Icom clone, I want my KX3 to look and exactly like the KX3 I bought. I
trust the engineers at Elecraft to make acceptable and necessary
upgrades
for functionality. I also trust that they are not going to ruin a great
radio in the name of glitter..
It has been pointed out previously in this thread that all of Elecraft's
radios can be easily connected to a computer for computer control. Not
everything in the world needs to be integrated, and often doing so
creates
compromises that are much more difficult to live with and limit the
lifetime
of a product. I'm tickled pink with my Elecraft products and don't
feel the
need for them to emulate anyone else to keep me as a customer! We
shouldn't
be compelled to buy a radio every two years like we do with cell
phones. My
expectation is to buy a product that will function for many years, and
possibly a decade or more. I would rather have multiple Elecraft
products
rather than one that pretends to be all things to all people.
73
len
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