Found a 1978 Cessna avionics manual that blew my mind on what we called 'advanced'

I was cleaning out my old mentor's garage last weekend and found a Cessna service manual from 1978. It listed the standard avionics package as a single NavCom and an ADF. No GPS, no transponder with altitude encoder, nothing digital. That whole plane probably had less computing power than my smart watch. Made me think about how much the job has changed in 40 years. Anyone else run into old specs that made you stop and laugh?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_burns83d ago

Did the old ADF actually pull in stations reliably, or did it just sit there spinning in circles most of the time? I've messed with a few from that era and they were basically decorative once you got more than 50 miles from a broadcast tower. Bet your mentor had some stories about shooting approaches with nothing but that NavCom and a whiskey compass. Those guys had nerves of steel or just really good luck.

andrew_sanchez943d ago

Man that "decorative once you got more than 50 miles" line hits too close to home. I had an old Bendix T-12C in a Cherokee once and yeah, it was basically a mood ring past 60 miles. @jesse_burns8 you ever try tuning into a strong AM broadcast station instead of the NDB? I swear those old fan stations like 50,000 watt clear channel ones would give you a solid lock from way further out. The NDBs were just too weak and the needle would just start doing the cha-cha in turbulence. I bet your mentor had some wild stories about timing the swings and just guessing the final approach fix.