User Guide
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Flying the Malibu Mirage
Welcome aboard the Malibu Mirage! Settle down in the
cockpit and look around, and it’ll seem at first as though there’s a
lot more going on than in the 172. Sure, there is more, but not all
that much...and, as you start to glance around, you’ll see some
familiar old friends.
SAME OLD “SACRED SIX”
The primary flight instruments are almost exactly the same as
they are in the 172 (in fact, over on the copilot side of the panel,
they are exactly the same). The only difference on the captain’s
side is that the directional gyro has been replaced by an extreme-
ly handy device called a Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI). For
a more detailed description, check the Radio Flyer Part 2. Another
additional instrument, the Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI) is also
described in that section.
WHAT’S UP
One thing you’ll notice in the Mirage is that some of its most
important electrical switches, including the battery master and the
magnetos, are arranged across the top of the windshield. This is
partly an effort to save instrument panel “real estate,” and partly
an effort to give it a “big airplane” feel, like the overhead panels
you’ll find in an airliner. Even low-time pilots hear the refrain from
“The High and the Mighty” and see those four imaginary gold
rings on their sleeves when they have to fiddle with stuff in the
roof...never mind that by the time a real airline pilot has reached
the eminence where he’s flying something big enough to have a
complex overhead panel, he’s probably so old he needs special
trifocals, with an additional near-vision segment at the top, to
make sense of it!
Flight Instruction
Flight Instruction
CDI/NAV
Pilot’s Airspeed
Pilot’s Turn
Coordinator
ADF
Pilot’s Attitude Indicator
Pilot’s HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator)
Pilot’s Altimeter
Pilot’s Vertical
Speed
Landing
Gear
Landing Gear
Indicators
Emergency Gear Extension
(Not Shown)
Parking Brake
(Not Shown)
Hottest Cylinder
Indicator
MAP
TIT
OT
CHT
Fuel Qty.
RPM
FF
OP
VAC
Engine Instruments
Annunciator
Audio Panel
Auto Pilot
GPS Panel
NAVCOM1
NAVCOM2
Flap Position
Indicator
Flap Control
Weather Radar
Anti-ice and Environmental Switches
ADF Panel
Transponder
Emergency Locator
Transmitter
Co-Pilot’s Airspeed
Co-Pilot’s Turn
Coordinator
Co-Pilot’s Attitude
Indicator
Co-Pilot’s Gyro
Co-Pilot’s Vertical
Speed Indicator
Co-Pilot’s Altimeter
Mirage Cockpit
SimTip
Use Ctrl and the arrow
keys to look around
inside the cockpits.