Glass Cockpit

[EconomyClass]

This is an interesting picture of an A380 cockpit. I was looking around for things that are familiar.



Soooooooooooooo, do pilots now have to learn keyboarding? Is it a QWERTY keyboard? How soon do they transition to touchscreen where they just move images, which is more accessible to the bigger part of baby boomer and older workers?

[EconomyClass]

Used the IMG tags but on my browser, the picture doesn't display. Probably at least a few here know what the cockpit looks like already.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg

[Highkeas]

.............Is it a QWERTY keyboard?.............

Yes - just zoom in on the keyboard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ai...80_cockpit.jpg

My former company found that keyboards were more user friendly than touch screens or a mouse using commercial pilots in a simulator.

[Myndee]

Is that a video monitor on the left side? Where is the camera if that is the case?

I will never get used to not having the regular control yoke. It looks wrong.

[EconomyClass]

That was what I was thinking, too. But I thought at one time, warplanes were controlled with just a joystick. Anyway, there is this sort of fixed notion in my head that there should be a yoke. When I didn't see it, I was thinking "how is this plane controlled?"

[SYDCBRWOD]

Is that a video monitor on the left side? Where is the camera if that is the case?

I will never get used to not having the regular control yoke. It looks wrong.

All the screens are potentially 'video monitors' They are just computer screens which can be configured to display a variety of different info. If one screen goes down, another can display the info etc. It would be possible to provide a video feed to any of the screens theoretically (or even plumb in a DVD player I suppose). The screen on the far laft is the screen normally used for the Electronic Flight Bag - checklists, emergency procedures, maps, runway layouts as per the screen on the far right etc.

As for the no yolk issue - its all FBW, there is no reason for a bloody great stalk sproting from the floor to obstruct the view of the guages and screens, to become an obstruction when climbing into and out of the seat and to hit if they ever prang.

My question about the placement of the control joystick to one side is that if you become used to flying the aircraft with one hand, do you need to retrain your other hand before being promoted to the other chair? Anyone who has tried to drive a manual car the opposite to the usual side (LHD vs RHD) will be familiar with how difficult it can be to 'train' your other hand in changing gear.

[EconomyClass]

Is there some sort of ergonomic research showing onehanded beats two handed control? Also, do lefthanders function as well using a righthanded stick?

[SYDCBRWOD]

Is there some sort of ergonomic research showing onehanded beats two handed control? Also, do lefthanders function as well using a righthanded stick?

I'd supose back in the days where the flight surfaces were connected by rod, bellcranks and wire to the stick having the control column right in front of you enabled plenty of leverage and both hands to assist fighting some of the control forces. Now its all FBW, there is no reason for the leverage. In the F16 (one of the first if not the first aircraft to be produced with a sidestick controller, it was due to the pilot being reclined at a 30 degree angle (to help fight G-Forces) that made a regular stick impractical. That and the development of the unstable airframe to asist agility meant that computers had to actually fly the plane - the pilot merely instructed the computers - and you didn't need a large control column for that. Sure, you could have a conventional stick canted back at an angle so you could grab it when reclined, but the placement of the stick wouldn't do good things for your marriage tackle if you had to eject. Fighter aircraft don't use a conventional two handled yolk anyway - all major controls are grouped around the throttle and stick under the HOTAS ergonomic theory (Hands On Throttle And Stick). So, the stick was reduced to a joystick on one side of the cockpit, the throttle on the other.

The other reason I have heard of is that it helps to fight fatigue - your elbow and arm can be supported whilst you fly the aircraft with movements of your wrist. Very stable. SAAB had a 9000 concept vehicle driving around with a similar system years ago. Reasons cited - safety (no steering wheel or column to hit in a prang) and fatigue.

On the subject of adaptability, I'm a right hand dominant, yet in Australia we drive on the correct side of the road (the left) - So I obviously change gear with my non dominant hand. Many years ago I drove a friends manual vehicle in the US, and even though my dominant hand was doing the gear changing, it took days before I didn't have to conciously think through each gear change. I'd suspect it would take a little while before the muscle memory develops to the necessary standard to mean they are as proficient on one side as the other.

[EconomyClass]

Somehow puts me in mind of these guys I've seen playing games for hours in Internet cafes.

[3WE]

Is there some sort of ergonomic research showing onehanded beats two handed control? Also, do lefthanders function as well using a righthanded stick?

There is a strong tendency- even with a control wheel/yoke- for the plane to be flown "one-handed". "The rule of thumb" is one hand on the yoke, one hand on the power levers (power levers are a critical control and to be able to "instantly" power up is a good idea).

Yes there are some exceptions where pilots drive with both hands on the wheel, but when hand flying on short final-the most critical phase of flight- I would hope there's only one hand working the wheel while the other hand is on the coal-levers.

[EconomyClass]

Question: Is the joystick arrangement just for when the flight management computer shuts down? Reason I wondered is I started to think that maneuvering would be more precise if you simply told the computer where the plane was to move to and let it figure how much control surface movement is required. If ATC gives you a different heading or altitude, you simply instruct the computer to put you on that heading or altitude and hit "change" and it proceeds to achieve it. I suppose that can be accomplished with a hand on the control and watching the gauges, but not everyone has an equal facility at that. The computer could make it a smooth change that would be comfortable for everyone.

[brianw999]

Question: Is the joystick arrangement just for when the flight management computer shuts down? Reason I wondered is I started to think that maneuvering would be more precise if you simply told the computer where the plane was to move to and let it figure how much control surface movement is required. If ATC gives you a different heading or altitude, you simply instruct the computer to put you on that heading or altitude and hit "change" and it proceeds to achieve it. I suppose that can be accomplished with a hand on the control and watching the gauges, but not everyone has an equal facility at that. The computer could make it a smooth change that would be comfortable for everyone.

As far as I know, just about every flight has around 90% - 95% automated auto-pilot control. Heading changes are made by adjusting the heading bug and letting the autopilot do the work. Same goes for altitude and speed changes. About the only time the hand controls are used is during takeoff and landing...with some aircraft even able to autoland with no pilot control input until on the ground.
I remember reading on one of these forums where an old, experienced Captain offered the First Officer the chance to hand fly the aircraft...to be met with a horrified comment of "Oh no...we have to let the autopilot do it all according to company regulations".

No wonder it all goes wrong sometimes if pilots don't regularly practise hand flying and the automatics go down at a critical moment.

Maybe I should say right now that I'm not a pilot so I could be wrong here.

[TUNISAIR745]

I remember reading on one of these forums where an old, experienced Captain offered the First Officer the chance to hand fly the aircraft...to be met with a horrified comment of "Oh no...we have to let the autopilot do it all according to company regulations".

That is one serious issue: loosing hand-flying experience to satisfy the company's regulations...

In a couple of years, the function will change from "pilots" to "airplane managers"!!

[EconomyClass]

Good point. The time when you want to have the feel of manual flight is not when an engine quits or the plane does something wacky and the computer can't figure it out. Not that pilots should deliberately fly into those situations, at least not with customers on board. But you don't want book learning as your fallback.

Still, isn't there some requirement for inservice practice on simulators?

[Leftseat86]

Question: Is the joystick arrangement just for when the flight management computer shuts down? Reason I wondered is I started to think that maneuvering would be more precise if you simply told the computer where the plane was to move to and let it figure how much control surface movement is required. If ATC gives you a different heading or altitude, you simply instruct the computer to put you on that heading or altitude and hit "change" and it proceeds to achieve it. I suppose that can be accomplished with a hand on the control and watching the gauges, but not everyone has an equal facility at that. The computer could make it a smooth change that would be comfortable for everyone.

The computer already does this, it's called AUTOPILOT and that is how most commercial planes are flown for a good 85-95% of their time in the air.