Definition
The traditional mechanical flight instruments — such as the airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altimeter, heading indicator, turn coordinator, and vertical speed indicator — that perform the same functions as the digital displays on an Electronic Flight Display (EFD). In glass-cockpit discussions, 'analogue counterparts' refers to the older needle-and-dial instruments that each EFD presentation replaces or mirrors.
Plain English
The older round-dial instruments with moving needles that show the same flight information now shown on a digital screen.
Context Anchor
Seen when comparing electronic flight displays with the older round-dial cockpit instruments they replaced or duplicate.
Derivation
Analogue' comes from the Greek 'analogos', meaning 'proportional' or 'corresponding'. An analogue instrument shows information by a continuous physical movement — a needle sweeping around a dial — that is proportional to the value being measured. 'Counterpart' simply means the matching version of something. Together: the matching, needle-and-dial version of a digital display.
Why Pilots Care
Knowing the analogue counterparts helps pilots understand how electronic displays replicate familiar instrument readings during the transition to glass cockpits.
Analogy
It is like a digital clock and a clock with hands. They can show the same time, but they present it in different ways.
Intuition Check
Analogue counterparts does not mean backup instruments in every case. It means the matching non-digital instruments that show the same kind of information.
Example Sentence 1
The EFD displays airspeed as a moving tape, while its analogue counterpart shows the same information with a needle sweeping around a circular dial.
Example Sentence 2
A pilot moving from steam gauges to an EFD must learn how the new display presents the same data as the analogue counterparts.