FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0075.PDF
FLIGHT, 20 January 1956 75 FLIGHT DECKS 1936-1956 AIRLINE pilots reared on the present generation of multi-engined aircraft will regard the cockpit shown in theL right-hand photograph as a strangely empty place. Yet the aircraft—a Short Empire flying boat of 1936— was in its day one of the world's foremost trunk-route trans- ports. When the photograph appeared in Flight, 20 years ago, we commented that the control cabin boasted "probably more instruments . . . than in any other civil machine in this country." With the advent of retractable, steerable undercarriages,reversible airscrews, a multiplicity of radio aids, new instru- ment systems and pressurization, flight-deck layouts havegrown steadily more complex. Today, however, there are signs that the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way.It is reassuring to note that the control cabins of the Comet (top) and Britannia (below) are no more complex than thoseof their immediate predecessors. Indeed, in some respects —notably engine-handling—pilots of the new generationof airliners require fewer controls and instruments. (Top) Pilots' stations in the prototype de Havil- land Comet 3; the Comet 4 will have an essentially similar lay- out. Provision is made for a maximum opera- ting crew of five. Centre) An "office" familiar to more than one of B.O.A.C.'s senior captains: the spacious flight deck of the 1936 Short Empire boat. (Right) This view of the captain's and first offi- cer's stations in a B.O.A.C. Britannia 100 hints at the great width of the cabin. There are five crew positions, but the aircraft is A.R.B.- approved for operation by a crew of two.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
