ASA E6B Metal Flight Computer

I am starting my flight instruction but have quite a heavy workload at the moment, so my CFI is having me focus on learning the various tools and concepts that can be worked on in relatively short blocks of time when I have a couple of minutes to spare. He advised me to get this E6B as he had started with a paper one and after multiple accidental abuses (coffee / water spills while planning, shoving things on it in his flight bag, etc...) he found he had a lifespan of a couple of years out of each paper one. He switched to an aluminum one and has had it for over 20 years and has been recommending them since. Fully aside from it's real use in flying, an E6B of any nature has a spot as "geek toy" for anyone in the fields of math, science, and engineering due to it being the last widely produced slide rule style tool in existence. The more you use / play / ponder an E6B, the more one recognizes the incredible talent which went into coming up with what seems a very simple tool both in terms of the actual concept and the execution. What at first looks random is actually very precisely defined, and what at first looks like a tool for a very specific function suddenly has all kinds of other uses. Build quality of this model is excellent. It uses a plastic friction bushing, which more or less eliminates the pivot wear issues that earlier metal versions were prone to having. While it is thicker and heavier than a paper one I feel that is a good trade to have made for the benefits of a metal one.

Delivered real fast and perfect for training.

This E6B replaces the one I've had since 1966 when I earned my Private Pilot License. At 78 years of age I'm getting back into flying. Since the dials on my 60 year old E6B have become difficult to rotate, I decided to get a new one. The metal design makes it very durable and you can toss it into your flight bag with out worrying about bending it. The calculator side of the E6B is basically a circular slide rule (photo below), a tool that is probably quite foreign to most people today. Now, it's all computers/tablets/cell phones. Back then, slide rules were used to make the calculations that went into designing airplanes, many of which are still flying today. I've included a photo of the calculator side of the E6B and of a Slide Rule so those who may have never seen a slide rule can see how similar they are.

Heavy duty. Works awesome!

I briefly used a paper (cardboard) version of this computer. This one is much better and worth the extra money. It will not fray like the cardboard on will, and is easy to use (after climbing the learning curve). The markings are large enough and clear to read.

I had one of the cardboard E6Bs before but it was starting to show some signs of being used and carried around in my flight bag. I decided I wanted to upgrade to a more durable product. I did some research and found that others took a simple device and made it harder to use which is why I choose this one. What can I say? It meets my expectations and works exactly like it’s supposed to.

This is a large E6B, which helps reading the scales for those who have "tired eyes". ;-) However, the wind scale used for plotting winds/track/speed does not have a low-speed scale. Minimum speed on the scale was 40 knots, which is too high for those wanting to take an FAA written exam or for those flying helicopters.

This device is made from metal with etched markings. If you are a student pilot who isn't planning to fly professionally, then this is likely way more than you need--look for one of the plastic devices (or an electronic one). If, however, you are an aspiring professional pilot you will likely spend some time as a CFI. In that case, you need a device that will hold up. This will absolutely do the job. Further, the instructions for using it are etched on, so you can recover from the occasional brain f@rt.