Although not the first to market, Chelton’s ûFlightLogic PFD is the most ambitious. It uses ûthe highway-in-the-sky symbology intended ûto simplify instrument interpretation.

It’s not a pretty sight to watch a grossly non-current pilot try to keep an airplane upright on instruments, never mind actually fly an approach. The problem is usually two-fold: his basic instrument scan is shot and if there’s any mental bandwidth left over, it won’t be enough to run the radios and set up the navs.

Minor advances in panel instruments—chiefly the HSI, the ADI/flight director and the advent of the T-layout have helped but filtered through the eyes of an industrial designer, even modern flight instrumentation is hopelessly antiquated. It requires the abstract information from six instruments just to fly headings, maintain altitudes and navigate courses. The concept hasn’t…