Historical Snapshot: Boeing 747 Commercial Transport/YAL-1

The big advantage of the digital “glass cockpits” was the ability to reduce needed flight crew from 3 to 2. Before the -400, all 747 flights would have a captain, first officer and a flight engineer (sitting behind the two pilots, monitoring engines and other parameters), while modern flights do away with the flight engineer. The glass cockpits aren’t necessarily easier to read or learn, but they do allow a lot more information to be presented in a much more compact space (and only display alerts rather than always having all sensors visible at all times)

As a low-time (just shy of 250 total hours) private pilot, I much prefer all-analog, as I personally find it much easier to take in information in a quick scan. PP and IFR instruction was both done with "glass cockpit" aircraft, and while Garmin's avionics are quite nice -- and were one of the reasons I took instruction where I did, I found that I like the all-analog setups better.

This has a side benefit as well -- the "glass cockpit" planes are much more in demand at the local flying clubs, while I can almost always get an older 172 or 182 with zero advanced notice, and they're cheaper too.

I won't opine about reliability or anything else; I don't have enough experience. I just know which I find easier to process.

It’s not quite as bad as it might appear. A lot of the gauges are engine instruments repeated 4 times.

A lot of pilots would love to fly the old “steam gauge” versions of big planes like the 747.