Hi,

I'm not a real live pilot. I just wonder what's the estimated fraction of Steam Gauges / G1000 glass cockpits / GTN750s in the planes of today's average RL flight school.

When I make a sightseeing flight now and then, I'm usually taken to 20+ years old C172s or R400s or the like and none of those I've been in so far had a glass cockpit. Often, these are flight school machines which just are used for sightseeing as a side income. Mainly, I am interested in the GA aircraft I find in MSFS.

Thanks for any report, Michael

I can't tell for the whole world, but local trend is many steam gauges GA aircraft got retrofitted with partial or full aftermarket "glass". And it became a real trend in many local clubs. Basically renters love glass so many owners reponds. I have notice that Aspen and Dynon are particularly popular choices due their lower pricing comparing with Garmin

 

In my part of the world, it depends on the type of flight school.

"Sausage factory" schools as we call them, such as CAE/Oxford will have glass as they have the financial resources.

"Mum & Dad" schools or aero clubs like the one I instruct at may have limited resources if they actually own any aircraft at all, will most likely have steam as they don't have the resources for a retrofit.

The average owner who cross hires to a school will probably shirk at the cost of a retrofit and stay with steam. There are exceptions though - the introduction of lower cost G5 and Garmin GNSS units sees the odd owner retrofit.

I retrofitted my M20M some years ago, but I don't hire it out.

Edited June 5, 20215 yr by DavidP

Thanks guys, interesting. I understand, money is a very limiting factor with the GTN750 at the upper end, I guess. Of course it's the most comfortable option, at least I recognize in sim.,

Kind regards, Michael

Larger flight schools in the US are all glass cockpit.  G1000 NXi etc.  Probably a few Avidynes out there too.

Otherwise for the smaller ones you'll find a mix of analogue and half glass etc.