Instrument training decisions start with figuring out whether to train in an aircraft with a classic six-pack instrument presentation versus a glass display as we’ll as whether to step up to an airplane that meets the FAA’s standards for a Technically Advanced Airplane (TAA)—one that has a moving map display, IFR GPS and an integrated autopilot.
Unfortunately, there’s more—TAA displays are not standardized. The industry took a massive step forward, in our opinion, in the 1968 aircraft model year with a standardized instrument panel presentation—what we now call the six-pack. It smoothed a pilot’s transition between types of airplanes because the placement of the six primary flight instruments on all panels was the same. A pilot always saw the airspeed indicator in the upper left corner, for example.