http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/cockpit1.htm

I'm down.

2/17/2009 5:00:19 PM

2/17/2009 5:02:00 PM

i hate anything that resizes my browser

plus, it's gay

2/17/2009 5:04:34 PM

that would be weird to only have that little joystick over to the site rather than a traditional wheel.

2/17/2009 5:07:59 PM

looks a little more sophisticated then the 172 I fly

2/17/2009 5:14:04 PM

haha you said cock

2/17/2009 5:14:36 PM

That's quite a step up from the Cessna 172s I've been flying.

lol, Gonzo said almost the same exact thing.

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 5:15 PM. Reason : ]

2/17/2009 5:14:45 PM

cool, cupholders.

2/17/2009 5:47:47 PM

Quote :

"that would be weird to only have that little joystick over to the site rather than a traditional wheel."

i think you mean yoke

2/17/2009 6:01:33 PM

I thought this thread was about Airbag

2/17/2009 6:02:09 PM

Definitely beats the unergonomic mess that I fly in!

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 6:42 PM. Reason : gyjkh.]

2/17/2009 6:41:46 PM

it doesn't really look any different then other Airbus cockpits

2/17/2009 6:43:58 PM

^^ Jesus fucking christ, that's giving me nightmares just looking at it. Are those the old school MFCD's?





aha, one of the U.S. military forces had me working on an old jet of theirs. It looks a lot like that [before I started work on it]

2/17/2009 6:46:19 PM

ha, i knew you'd get a kick out of that.

the MFDs and the box with the green lettering are actually part of the latest upgraded avionics that the Prowler receieved, haha.

The steam gauges are set up in a horrible pattern for the pilot to scan, and I don't even have instruments (or things like flap / gear indicators) on my side...I have to watch his across the cockpit.

I'll have to take some more cockpit pictures sometime. That one isn't all that good.

2/17/2009 6:52:29 PM

wait, you have flight controls on your side but you dont have the big 6? (altimeter, air speed indicator, gyro, et al)

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 6:55 PM. Reason : 

2/17/2009 6:53:30 PM

no flight controls on my side (although i have reached across and flown if the pilot was asleep, haha)

2/17/2009 6:58:16 PM

Sir, you would benefit from an integrated HSI

weird. it's basically military standard for the pilot to have the essential displays. the copilot is supposed to have them as well, at least for redundancy (not inculding the HUD).

I mean, you're fucked if your one set of displays goes out :-/

2/17/2009 6:58:44 PM

hah, I wish I could show you some stuff that I have

but....

that would violate all sorts of ITAR laws

I'd get fired so goddamn quick, and then sent to prison

2/17/2009 7:02:02 PM

2/17/2009 7:09:16 PM

we don't have a HUD at all

there is a little backup attitude indicator (about the size of a golf ball, maybe a LITTLE bigger). there are also a few instruments in the aft cockpit (attitude, altitude, airspeed, cabin altitude).


^^ yeah, hopefully my time is coming. the Prowler is going away (along with the -D model Hornet), so Marine NFOs are going to be a thing of the past. They've already said that they want to keep the Prowler ECMOs, because nobody else understands electronic warfare...the plan is to send us back to flight school to become pilots (and then put us in the new F-35), and to make a few of us UAV commanders.

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 7:15 PM. Reason : from what i know about it, the F-35's avionics package will more than make for what i've missed]

2/17/2009 7:10:02 PM

just from that picture, I can tell there's so much clutter and misplacement. the only reason I can think of for having displays and backup displays that small is because when it was designed 1) they were trying to make things fit wherever they could and 2) they had no idea how pilots actually scan the cockpit instruments.
especially with newer developments in technology, so many of those controls and dead space could be reduced or eliminated.


no need to further confuse a pilot, or add to an already high workload

a lot of companies are actually retrofitting existing planes.


yeah, those UAV's are hot shit. sooooo much you can do with them.

2/17/2009 7:16:01 PM

yeah, a hub and spoke arrangement would be much better that what we have now. another problem that we have is that the AOA gauge and the g-meter are nowhere near each other. The AOA gauge is on the left side of the cockpit kind of near the AOA indexers (I presume for flying the ball on a carrier landing, which has the pilot looking slightly left out of the cockpit, not to mention looking left out of the break to acquire it to begin with). That makes sense, I suppose...but the g-meter is on the far right, not really near ANYTHING. it makes max-performing the jet kind of tough. The pilots are trained to largely do it by "feel", which isn't optimum, but the jet doesn't facilitate things for you.

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 7:23 PM. Reason : we are supposed to get a moving map in about a year, though. that'll be nice.]

2/17/2009 7:23:04 PM

2/17/2009 7:42:26 PM

weeeeeee . . . this is the 130 knot wonder I fly now.



Should be moving to this sooner or later:

2/17/2009 8:51:03 PM

I'll be more sad when they retire the A-10.

2/17/2009 9:06:15 PM

WARTHOGS!!1

2/17/2009 9:12:58 PM

that will be quite some time, those fuckers are so useful the army will take them from the airforce and run them until there aren't any more parts... honestly they should make more (updated)

2/17/2009 9:57:52 PM

Quote :

"that would be weird to only have that little joystick over to the site rather than a traditional wheel."

airbus loves that.

2/17/2009 11:11:07 PM

traditional wheel? que? you mean yoke?

2/17/2009 11:13:19 PM

i think the term you're looking for is "steering thingy"

2/17/2009 11:14:19 PM

i meant airbus loves the fly-by-wire joysticks on either side of the pilot.

when i asked an airbus rep about it (i.e. the captain being right handed), they replied, "he'll deal".

2/17/2009 11:14:53 PM

weird how many of YOU PEOPLE fly plans

is that just something that YOU PEOPLE do?

2/17/2009 11:18:48 PM

I, too, have my PPL. Haven't flown since 2004

2/17/2009 11:20:17 PM

i flew planes and took lessons in high school. almost had my license. i want to get back into it

2/17/2009 11:20:51 PM

^ same here...I have 38 hours, I was so close.


I haven't flown since '01 or so though so I'd basically be starting anew.


Still something I need to check off my list though

2/18/2009 1:32:28 AM

This is my office, the P-3....state of the art 1960s technology. We are supposed to be going to the P-8 in the near future, which is a militarized 737.....but who knows they may keep these bad boys in service for another 3 decades.

2/18/2009 1:53:33 AM

This is my bad boy:


Note that the tachometer is all the way on the other side of the cockpit, in front of the co-pilot. Yeah, that's how we roll at the Redstone Arsenal Flying Activity.

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 10:01 AM. Reason : ]

2/18/2009 9:45:13 AM

quoting links for the win

2/18/2009 9:57:27 AM

Quote :

"those fuckers are so useful the army will take them from the airforce and run them until there aren't any more parts"

is there anything to back that up, or is that just an idea that you had? i don't see it as something likely at all to happen.

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 10:32 AM. Reason : ^^^ that's actually one of the slicker old-style Cessna panels I've seen. ]

2/18/2009 10:29:52 AM

warthogs aren't going anywhere for a while.

I can't really give you all anything to back that up, because I would probably get fired.
But I will say that I've personally had a hand in some of the 'updating' of the A-10. I won't say for who.



They're damn good planes for what they're meant to do. interchangable parts...relatively easy to repair...durable as hell (aha, they can fly with 1 engine and 1/4th of a wing blown off). A-10's are basically a big ass machine gun with wings.


btw, there's this great book written from the pilot's perspective called 'A-10's over Kosovo'. Check it out sometime. good stuff

2/18/2009 10:45:10 AM