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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0148.PDF
150 FLIGHT BRITANNIA FLIGHT DECK A Modern Airliner Cockpit Described in Detail T!I c"*HE equipment of the Britannia is necessarily complex—complex in that the aircraft achieves size, performance, load capacity and standard of comfort which, considered together,are now unmatched by any other civil aircraft. One would expect this complexity to be reflected in the flight deck; but the first,and surprising, impression is one of almost indecent simplicity. To an airline pilot new to the Britannia there would be littleto explain in the layout itself; this is practically self-explanatory, and careful design has reduced what could have been difficult towhat is reasonable. This is in part due to the comparative simpli- city of the gas turbine as compared with the piston engine, butalso because instrumentation and layout have been subject to extensive development in close co-operation with B.O.A.C.—as,indeed, has the whole of the Britannia. This has continued during the entire project, from mock-up to prototypes, and has continuedwith production aircraft up to delivery. The B.O.A.C. Britannia flight deck is truly "custom-built," with the customer an activepartner in development. Operators other than B.O.A.C. will, of course, have their indi-vidual requirements, but the "unit" construction of instrument panels and the pedestal make new requirements reasonably feasible.Changes will mostly be those of alternative equipment, and not of basic re-design—a great advantage which stems from gooddesign. Crew Requirements.—Provision is made for an operating crewof five, comprising captain, first officer, navigator, radio operator and a supernumerary engineer carried at the discretion of theairline. This last officer has a jump seat (adjustable to two heights) between and behind the pilots' stations. Engine controls on thepedestal, and the roof panel controls (engine starting, fire, anti- icing and pilot's radio) are within easy reach, thus dispensing witha separate engineer's panel and controls. The supernumerary seat also serves as a convenient location for instruction, and can beused, if so required, by the navigator or radio operator. The Britannia is licensed by the Air Registration Board for aminimum crew of three, and for test purposes has frequently been flown with two. This is possible because all controls—including normal emergency—are within reach of the pilots (or pilot and engineer) strapped in the pilot seats, while most of dieradio is remotely controlled at the pilots' roof panel. With the exception of the navigator's Loran, the crew of two would havethe navigator and radio stations at their effective control, with only the subsidiary electrical panels (E.2, E.7 and E.9 on thebulkhead) out of reach. This simple and centralizedlocation of control is a feature which, by doing away with theseparate engineer's panel, reverses a past tendency for the cockpitto outgrow the pilot. It is of significance not only in itself butbecause it reflects an approach to the problem which has enabledso large and advanced an aircraft to have such a compara-tively simple flight deck. The cockpit has been sometimes criti-cized as being too small, but this is difficult to understand; it hasbeen known to accommodate eleven people! It is adequateand comfortable. As becomes the modern "office," it caters forbusiness efficiency, and with minor criticisms, has the fullapproval of the "staff." Panel and Control Layout.—This short survey cannot hope to cover all items in detail, butthese may be studied by refer- ence to the accompanyingillustrations. The cockpit of the Britannia 102— a "Flight" photograph taken in G-ANBE at London last week. The layout of the panels is illustrated on the facing page by diagrams. "Flight" photograph THE author of this article is Mr. G. Wansborough-White, A.R.Ae.S.,F.S.F., of Bristol Aircraft, Ltd. His description of the Britannia flight deck, written from close personal acquaintance with it, provides a usefulbackground to several of the articles on earlier pages of this issue. It was stated earlier that the flight deck is almost self-explanatory—a statement which in itself may now need some explanation. Fig. 1 shows a formalized layout of control panels, alphabeticallylabelled to S.B.A.C. standard. The list suggests the fact and the explanation—that instruments are grouped as functional entities,by system and by sense, and that the layout was as much designed by the pilot as by the draughtsman. With a few exceptions, eachpanel serves only one system. Such an exception would be the main and secondary electrical power failure warning lights locatedon Panels A.I and A.3, but these must come to the pilots' immediate attention, and are clearly separated from the main flying instru-ments, which are contained within a white line. This feature is also evident on Panel A.2, where engine instruments are similarlysegregated. The white line as an aid to mental "focus" is not new—it hasbeen used on military and civil aircraft since the end of the last war—but this basic idea has been carried further in what mightbe termed a system of "line indication." An example is the fuel panel, which displays the system in outline form, with its opera-tion clearly portrayed. The electrical panels are similarly laid out as a working diagram, and such mental aids are invaluablefor immediate perception of the state of the system, and thus in reducing crew fatigue. From the maintenance aspect, all panels are hinged to give accessto the rear. Flying Controls.—Space-saving has been achieved by, in addi-tion to the measures already described, the design of the push-pull control wheel, with conventional movement for aileron and eleva-tor. The rudder pedals incorporate mainwheel brake controls, and are adjustable for length; the parking brake levers will be seenforward of the pedestal. Elevator trim is by duplicated hand-wheel on the pedestal, andtransmitted through torque tubes and gearboxes to a servo-tab on each elevator; this may seem to encroach on a description of theflying controls, but it is included to explain the contrasting rudder and aileron trim, which is "mechanical" rather than directlyaerodynamic, although the end result is the same. Aileron and rudder trim switches, on the pedestal, control electric motors
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