Flight deck simulators and airplane cutaways

February 1, 2007 1:32 AM

Ever wonder what all those instruments and controls on the Boeing 777's flight deck do? How about all the stuff on the rest of the plane? Photographer and former United Airlines employee Jerome Meriweather brings you flight deck simulations, aircraft cutaways, and random technical information for a handful of civilian and military planes.
posted by grouse (26 comments total)

Ever wonder what all those instruments and controls on the Boeing 777's flight deck do?

99.99... percent of the time, none of them do anything essential. The flight crew can just turn on the autopilot (click), make sure the cabin door is locked (click), and start in on the whisky (glug glug glug). It's a long way to Hawaii. These things can even land themselves.

Which controls are needed for taxiing to the gate?
posted by pracowity at 2:28 AM on February 1, 2007

I think that estimate is a just a little high.
posted by grouse at 2:56 AM on February 1, 2007

Thanks for the post grouse. I've just returned from India and, despite, the hindrances of air travelling today, you still have to admire the jet age and how, it, perhaps even more than something like the internet makes the global age possible. I doubt my parents make the trip from India to the USA if no plane exists -- and the "jet immigrants" dynamic surely has changed many of us and this country. And, if you can ignore security checks, crazy airports, and crazy carry on restrictions, ever shrinking space in coach, flying can still be fun.

At any rate, even if everything is autopilot, planes are still amazing for what they do and I've often wondered at least what options pilots have. I'd still think encountering unexpected turbulence and the same need human adjustments to the flight...

Nice site to revisit and perhaps even inspire some future pilots -- thanks again.
posted by skepticallypleased at 3:25 AM on February 1, 2007

This is an interesting post, thanks grouse! And I can only imagine that any bona fide airplane geeks (a sub-species unto themselves) among us MeFites who don't already know about these sites will be your adoring friend forever.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:35 AM on February 1, 2007

As a bona fide airplane geek, this is seriously cool - thank you grouse!
posted by jontyjago at 4:40 AM on February 1, 2007

At any rate, even if everything is autopilot, planes are still amazing for what they do and I've often wondered at least what options pilots have.

The option not to get on an aircraft they think is unsafe. IMHO, pilots and flight crews are onboard to keep the airline honest about maintenence and safety. Autopilots, no matter how sophisticated, can never do this.

Cool stuff grouse.
posted by three blind mice at 4:50 AM on February 1, 2007

At any rate, even if everything is autopilot,

And it isn't. The electronics do a great deal of the work, but the Guys in Front are there for lots of reasons. One of the more important ones is "to check all the electronics first."

For the 99.9% case, it's mostly "takeoff, fly the sid, follow the route, flight the STAR, land." In some cases, the landing will be flown by the autopilot for most of the descent -- but Category III ILS isn't that common.

It is when something abnormal happens that you hope and pray that somebody's up front to deal with it. That's the big part of the training. By the time you've flown enough to get a commercial rating, you can fly a healthy plane. The time you spend in the simulators training after you've gotten your commercial rate is to deal with unhealthy ones.
posted by eriko at 5:30 AM on February 1, 2007

"Sir, we're all about to die. I thought you said you could land this plane."

"No, no, hang on. I saw this on the Internet."
posted by Eideteker at 5:34 AM on February 1, 2007

""No, no, hang on. I saw this on the Internet."

"The Internet? What is it?"

"It's a bunch of interconnected computers, but that's not important right now."
posted by three blind mice at 5:46 AM on February 1, 2007 [3 favorites]

Another bona-fide airplane geek here. Thanks for the post!
posted by matty at 5:57 AM on February 1, 2007

It is when something abnormal happens that you hope and pray that somebody's up front to deal with it.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. When that abnormal event is caused by a (confused or undertrained or drunk or tired or distracted or nervous or sloppy or dumb) human, you wish he'd stay the hell out of the cockpit.

For example, Airbus wants to take pilots out of the loop for collision avoidance because people react worse (often overreact) than do automated systems to such sudden situations.

The proposed systems will ensure that all aircraft "respond correctly and quickly" to alerts with "less stress on the pilot [and] less potential for injury" to passengers, said Bill Bozin, a top Airbus safety official. He said some pilots now overreact to such cockpit alerts, making extreme maneuvers that can throw passengers around, and in congested airspace even end up putting the aircraft on a collision course with still other nearby planes. In rare circumstances, pilots would retain the option of turning off the autopilot and responding on their own.

People who sit in cockpits for a living swear that that's a crazy idea. But they would.
posted by pracowity at 6:01 AM on February 1, 2007

Right, and then all you need to do is make sure all general-aviation aircraft have TCAS. That should be easy, right? (Maybe we should work on "make sure all general-aviation aircraft have radios", first. Even that isn't required yet.)

Regardless of how aircraft respond to TCAS alerts, the autopilot isn't going to do anything to get the airliner away from that Cessna that isn't paying attention.
posted by mendel at 6:39 AM on February 1, 2007

One of the things I loved about the Edward Jablonski book Flying Fortress was that it reproduced much of the aircraft's manual, including layouts of the flight-deck instrumentation of the B-17. For decades I've wished there were a B-17 simulator somewhere that WarBirds geeks like myself could rent time in.
posted by pax digita at 7:03 AM on February 1, 2007

Oh, and grouse? That fourth link, the "flight deck simulations" one? It seems to point right back to this thread. Might wanna ask jessamyn to fix that sucker.
posted by pax digita at 7:07 AM on February 1, 2007

"Sir, we're all about to die. I thought you said you could land this plane."

"No, no, hang on. I saw this on the Internet."

--I believe that's how one of the passengers landed the plane in the acclaimed documentary, "Snakes on a Plane."
posted by FeldBum at 7:15 AM on February 1, 2007

That was a different kind of plane, altogether.
posted by hal9k at 8:00 AM on February 1, 2007

Oh, and grouse? That fourth link, the "flight deck simulations" one? It seems to point right back to this thread. Might wanna ask jessamyn to fix that sucker.

Damn it. I meant to link to this. Administrator, please hope me.
posted by grouse at 8:19 AM on February 1, 2007

Great links! I love this stuff.

That Airbus bit is wild, pracowity. Planes being flown with redundant human operators, like the DC Metro trains. Pilots mostly will just be there to ease the passengers minds.

Eventually they'll be like the Johnny-Cab in Total Recall. Get your ass to Mars!
posted by breezeway at 8:19 AM on February 1, 2007

I love the throttle description:

"Makes the plane go fast, or slower"

Ummmm, o.... k........
posted by LordSludge at 9:02 AM on February 1, 2007

Plane porn is good.

Thanks!
posted by fluffycreature at 9:14 AM on February 1, 2007

Very neat, although kinda... creepy. It does feel weird knowing some of this information. Dunno if it's just that it takes some of the mystery of flight away by seeing all of this so carefully annotated. Having said that, the guy's done a good job with so much detail.

It makes you wonder how better information design on the control panels etc. would help make pilot's lives easier - maybe reduce a bit of the cognitive load for them.
posted by rmm at 9:19 AM on February 1, 2007

"Rain removal system for the forward window"... cool name for a wiper.
posted by dov3 at 9:20 AM on February 1, 2007

It does not say what to push for the inflatable autopilot.
posted by dov3 at 9:21 AM on February 1, 2007

for a bona fide al- qaeda terrorist ,this is seriously cool-
posted by baker dave at 9:35 AM on February 1, 2007

It does not say what to push for the inflatable autopilot.

The valve is its front, at the mid-section. Simply inflate by manually blowing air into the valve.
posted by LordSludge at 9:41 AM on February 1, 2007

That first link is such a cool site! I really enjoyed that! I've wondered about those razzle-dazzle flight decks ever since I was a little kid. Thanks so much.
posted by nickyskye at 6:29 PM on February 1, 2007