Gauges gauges and more gauges

This photo is basically part of the parking lot at the airport from which I'm flying and only really captures about 10% of the aircraft parked on the apron as I actually counted 42 jets of all sizes there today.That is a lot of money tied up going nowhere. I liken it to a boat marina and I suspect owning your own jet plane is very similar to what the famous America's Cup yachtsman Dennis Connor said about owning a sailing boat.

'' Its the same as standing in a cold shower upside down ripping up $100 notes ''

Regardless, it would be nice to own one if only because then you wouldn't have to put up with the mental midgets I encoutnered earlier at T3 in Heathrow.

This second photo is somewhat more interesting (at least to me) as it represents the view from my office . ie : The pilots seat.

Did I hear you think '' I wonder what the hell all those gauges tell him '' ? Well I'm glad you thought.

The big black thing in the middle is the yoke. Pull on it and the nose of the aircraft will turn up and you will hopefully climb. Push it down and you will descend. On the left handle are a series of buttons you depress to speak to the control tower.  

Essentially the 7 most important gauges to fly a plane are right in front of you. On the top row and second from the left is your speed indicator in knots which tells you how fast you are flying. The second gauge from the left tells you how level your wings are to the horizon which is important to enable you to keep the aircraft level. The fourth gauge is your altimeter which informs you of your altitude. Moving to the second row and again from the left the third gauge (the first bigger dial ) tells you how straight you have aircraft aligned. The fourth gauge is your directional compass that tells you the direction you have the aircraft pointed in and are travelling. The fifth gauge from the left tells you how many feet per minute you are descending or ascending. Directly under that and to the right of the yoke column is your tachometer which tells you RPM of the engine. At climbing you want this at its maximum and at cruising about 22 hundred revs per minute. Just to the bottom right hand corner of the yoke you can see a red button. Directly above that a large silver like knob. That is the throttle. Depress that all the way in for maximum juice and pull it out to bring the engine revs to almost a standstill. Idle is usually at 1,000 RPM.

Essentially that's it. Keep an eye on those 7 gauges , plus the other smaller ones which tell you detail like engine temperature , fuel etc  Additionally you need to monitor the horizon for any incoming objects and listen out to the radio for any squabble from air traffic control and you are on your way to having an enjoyable flight.