03/2009 | Cockpit design – the best of the past and present
Cockpit design – the best of the past and present
Over 50 years of aviation history lie between the maiden flight of the Lockheed Super Star and the restoration work currently under way on the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung (DLBS)’s future historic aircraft.
52 years which have not only seen spectacular advances in aircraft design, but a simultaneous increase of the same order of magnitude in the volume of air traffic. As a result, today’s instrumentation requirements for a commercial passenger aircraft are quite different from those which still prevailed in 1957. As all the forecasts suggest that passenger volumes will rise still further during the decades for which the L-1649A is expected to be in service with the DLBS, it has to be assumed that the certification authorities will impose further requirements during that time. For this reason it was decided right from the start to rule out the variant which many had hoped for of leaving the cockpit instrumentation in its unchanged, historic configuration.
To integrate the many extra instruments in the relatively tight instrument panel of the Super Star, there was no option but to go for four flat screens to present integrated views of the various navigation displays. At the same time the installation of selected analog instrument gauges pays tribute to the history of the aircraft and, at least at first glance, appears to trace an arc back to the “good old days”.
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Over 50 years of aviation history lie between the maiden flight of the Lockheed Super Star and the restoration work currently under way on the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung (DLBS)’s future historic aircraft.
52 years which have not only seen spectacular advances in aircraft design, but a simultaneous increase of the same order of magnitude in the volume of air traffic. As a result, today’s instrumentation requirements for a commercial passenger aircraft are quite different from those which still prevailed in 1957. As all the forecasts suggest that passenger volumes will rise still further during the decades for which the L-1649A is expected to be in service with the DLBS, it has to be assumed that the certification authorities will impose further requirements during that time. For this reason it was decided right from the start to rule out the variant which many had hoped for of leaving the cockpit instrumentation in its unchanged, historic configuration.
To integrate the many extra instruments in the relatively tight instrument panel of the Super Star, there was no option but to go for four flat screens to present integrated views of the various navigation displays. At the same time the installation of selected analog instrument gauges pays tribute to the history of the aircraft and, at least at first glance, appears to trace an arc back to the “good old days”.
Back to overview
