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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 0852.PDF
FLIGHT International, 27 May 1971 753 Through a glass lightly By P. J. SHARP4* THE NEW GENERATION of large jet transport aircraft now being built presents a number of unique prob lems for windscreen designers although at first sight the layout of cockpit transparencies might seem to be quite conventional. To some extent it is this very conven tion which presents the difficulties. Aircraft builders are faced with the problem of incorporating a crew compart ment—the layout of which has been proved and generally accepted for the last generation of long-range transports— into fuselages of nearly twice the diameter, at the same time continuing to maintain the crew in similar proximity to each other and to the windscreen. The result has been a total reconsideration of flight-deck locations, and Boeing at least has seen fit to make a change from its pre vious designs by elevating the crew of the 747 to a perch above the passenger cabin. Nevertheless, the fact that other manufacturers are retaining traditional locations (well forward in the nose) demonstrates the lack of con clusive evidence for any preferred layout. This same lack of standardisation exists in the design of cockpit transparencies and there is a certain amount of controversy as to whether the forward-facing windscreens should be curved or flat. Of the three big American manu facturers—Boeing, Lockheed and Douglas—the first two have chosen curved transparencies while the latter has retained the flat design. All three, however, have accepted *Head of Aircraft Windscreen Engineering, Rotax Ltd. that there is some advantage to be gained from curving the cockpit glazing although this technique is resulting in significant problems, reflected in large development and component costs. The accepted principle of having two pilot positions for large transport aircraft has been perpetuated for the new generation of large- and wide-bodied jets and, if there is not to be unnecessary duplication, the two pilots must sit close enough together to be able to reach and operate common controls on the central console and on the over head panel. So the basic flight-deck width requirement is common for, say, a Piaggio 808 and a Boeing 747. Although the crew can never be far from the outside skin of the Piaggio 808, they can easily be several feet away from the skin of a 20ft-dia fuselage. Obviously the flight deck must be located where the fuselage width is considerably reduced, such as in fairing on the fuselage top as in the Boeing 747, or well forward in the nose as in the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. In any event the side walls must "tumble home" from the floor to the roof in order to locate the side glazing within reasonable distance of the pilot's head, and some discontinuity in the fuselage profile will be necessary to place the forward windscreens in such a way that an acceptable field of view is obtained. Some of the configurations adopted in recent years on high-subsonic transport aircraft Boeing 747 Lockheed L1011 McDonnel Douglas DC 10 British Aircraft Corportion BAC 311 European Airbus A300B Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
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