![]() Until the 1970s, the walls of civil airliner cockpits – in fact every surface that was within the pilots’ reach – were studded with indicators, instruments and electromechanical controls. head-mounted display, used in certain cockpits.two rudder pedals, located at the pilots’ feet - head-up display (HUD), a recent, and increasingly important, innovation.Together with the rudder pedals, these are an aircraft’s basic controls control column and control wheel (historically known as the joystick), replaced by the sidestick in recent aircraft.centre pedestal, positioned between the pilots’ seats (to the rear of the centre instrument panel).centre instrument panel, located just below the console panel.fascia panel, above the front windscreen - console panel (the topmost and furthest forward part of the control and display equipment located between the two pilots in commercial airliners).side panels, at the sides of the pilots’ seats and below the side windscreen, used – like all additional surfaces – for displaying in- formation and accommodating the increasing numbers of controls for various aircraft subsystems.instrument panel (the legacy of the original cockpits, with the main instruments outlined above arranged in front of the pilot and below the front windscreen).easy oral communication inside the cockpit.Īlthough there are significant variations in cockpit layout from one aircraft to another, the most common components of an aircraft cockpit are as follows:.minimum visibility outside the cockpit.visibility of flight instruments without undue effort.the ability to reach the controls without effort from a reference position (seatbelt attached, shoulder harness unlocked, pilot’s eyes in reference position).The Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) issues Aerospace Recommended Practices (ARPs) for cockpit design, layout, installation and operation, which contain minimum requirements for the pilot’s position in relation to the following aspects: It is the HMI that enables the pilot to use his senses, brain and movements to control an extraordinarily complex machine in an environment to which human beings are not naturally accustomed.Ĭockpit ergonomics naturally make a key contribution to crew comfort and performance. As a result, the cockpit is a key arena for improvements in human-machine interface (HMI) technology. This trend has continued, with vast improvements in avionics providing increased functionality and autonomy with respect to the external environment.Īs the vital interface between an aircraft and its crew, the cockpit of a modern aircraft must provide – instantaneously and in a convenient manner – all the information the crew needs to assess the aircraft’s status and take appropriate action, regardless of the circumstances. Further progress was made in the 1950s, when instruments were introduced to enable aircraft to land in poor weather conditions. ![]() In the 1930s, however, instrument panels equipped with a wider array of more complex instruments began to allow pilots to fly at night and in poor visibility. Provided visibility was good, open-air cockpits allowed them to gain a good appreciation of the aircraft’s movements (turn, climb and descent) and attitude, while an uninterrupted view of the ground provided an aid to navigation (pilots were even able to fly low enough to read the names of railway stations!). Without going back as far as the Wright brothers, whose Flyer had no seat and no cockpit (the pilot simply perched in the open air among the slats and supports that made up the aircraft’s fuselage), it is fair to say that instrument panels remained fairly basic during the first thirty years of aviation history.ĭuring the earliest days of powered flight, pilots obtained the main information they needed from their external environment. An instrument panel located in front of or between the pilots to display the information required for navigation and flight control has always been a feature of aircraft of all types.
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