Panoramic view of the Airbus A380 cockpit
November 7, 2008 4:40 PM   Subscribe

 
Ack counterintuitive scrolling! (Awesome.)
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 4:52 PM on November 7, 2008


9 cupholders.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:55 PM on November 7, 2008


Because if there's one thing I really love, it's links that resize my browser.
posted by rodgerd at 5:02 PM on November 7, 2008 [3 favorites]


That was fantastic in fullscreen.
posted by JaredSeth at 5:03 PM on November 7, 2008


Oh, and yeah I can only hope the plane is easier to control than the scrolling was.
posted by JaredSeth at 5:04 PM on November 7, 2008


9 cupholders.

For some reason, that was one of the first things I noticed as well.
posted by jeffmik at 5:06 PM on November 7, 2008


The navigator just gets a crappy little laptop?
posted by Big_B at 5:09 PM on November 7, 2008


Errr - whatever the guy behind the copilot is called - Roger?
posted by Big_B at 5:10 PM on November 7, 2008


Still pretty damn awesome.
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:12 PM on November 7, 2008


I like the exposed brick in the hallway back down the left side.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:14 PM on November 7, 2008 [1 favorite]


Good lord, that laptop is huge!
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys at 5:20 PM on November 7, 2008


BUTTONS!!!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:25 PM on November 7, 2008


I wonder if the escape rope is 30,000ft long.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:35 PM on November 7, 2008 [1 favorite]


Pffff. My five year old could drive this.

(If I had a five year old and if he or she were a licensed pilot of major aircraft.)
posted by DU at 5:38 PM on November 7, 2008


Because if there's one thing I really love, it's links that resize my browser.

Yeah, this is cool, but I seriously want to line up every web developer in the world who has ever resized my browser and shove an angry ferret down his or her pants.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:47 PM on November 7, 2008


This is awesome. I love the screen bottom-center showing the view forward from the top of the tail. Would make it much easier to see which wing had fallen off or which engine was on fire.
posted by pivotal at 5:48 PM on November 7, 2008


Errr - whatever the guy behind the copilot is called - Roger?

We have clearance, Clarence.
posted by mannequito at 6:01 PM on November 7, 2008


NO STEERING WHEEL WTF.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:08 PM on November 7, 2008 [5 favorites]


I always wondered how they could see a damn thing out the windows. It seems to me like looking at a downward angle would be better than an upward one.

You could probably even not have windows at all, just fly from a control room that had all the instruments and video feeds from the outside. Redundant power supplies and systems might be nice in that case, though. Also, I'm not sure you could get any passengers into a plane with no windows for the pilot.
posted by ctmf at 6:33 PM on November 7, 2008


My five year old could drive this.

actually, looking at the lack of an actual flight control, I think your child could. The asymmetric control setup is puzzling to me -- wonder what the center console bulge for the captain's right hand is for, maybe a trackball control.
posted by troy at 6:56 PM on November 7, 2008


I can fly a plane. A little one, Piper Cherokee single engine. Planes are simple in many ways, rev the engine, good mix of fuel to oxygen, test the magnetos, set the altimeter, go 60 miles an hour and the aerodynamics of the wings does the Bernoulli thing, decreases air pressure above the wing surface and up it goes. Thrust, torque, tilt, rotate.

So in this cockpit what are all those hundreds of buttons and switches all over the place for?!

There needs to be explanations with this panorama visual. Squints to read. 91 of them.
posted by nickyskye at 7:02 PM on November 7, 2008 [1 favorite]


You could probably even not have windows at all, just fly from a control room that had all the instruments and video feeds from the outside

Or have the pilots based in a central location on the ground, like how we fly the GWOT UAVs.

Airlines could still have actors dressed as pilots walking through the concourse and pre-boarding the plane, of course.
posted by troy at 7:05 PM on November 7, 2008 [1 favorite]


and the aerodynamics of the wings does the Bernoulli thing

grrr
posted by troy at 7:07 PM on November 7, 2008


NO STEERING WHEEL WTF.

"Steering an airplane is not the same as steering a car...Airplanes have a control stick instead of a steering wheel. It looks a bit like a joystick on a video game."

On preview, grrr? Nitpicking, you can start with Newton but it's still Bernoulli's Principle of air Pressure.
posted by nickyskye at 7:15 PM on November 7, 2008


Why it this on the internet where the terrorists can see it!?
posted by cjorgensen at 7:19 PM on November 7, 2008


grrrrrrrr
posted by troy at 7:20 PM on November 7, 2008


looking at the lack of an actual flight control

??? There's a joystick on the outer armrest of each seat, and rudder pedals on the floor. Throttles in the center. Same as any Cirrus single-engine plane, in a way.

So in this cockpit what are all those hundreds of buttons and switches all over the place for?!

Well, they're superfluous, just like those four huge engines are. Scoff scoff!

</glider pilot>
posted by tss at 7:26 PM on November 7, 2008


grrrrrrrrrr
posted by nickyskye at 7:38 PM on November 7, 2008


Oh the joysticks!
posted by Oyéah at 7:40 PM on November 7, 2008


Borgasmotron!

With all those buttons, it sure looks like the end of intuitive flying. Do you suppose it will go the way of ordering at McDonalds, the flight controls will be subbed out to guys in Hungary?

Or, we will be landing in Orlando, as soon as the Pilot logs off his Play Station.
posted by Oyéah at 7:48 PM on November 7, 2008


There's a joystick on the outer armrest of each seat, and rudder pedals on the floor. Throttles in the center. Same as any Cirrus single-engine plane, in a way.

BIG MASSIVE HUGE CONTROLLY SWIVELY THING RIGHT IN FRONT OF PILOT PLS NOT MICROSWITCHED COMMODORE AMIGA PLAYTHING. ELSE HE FORGET AND PLANE FALL OUT OF SKY, SEE.
posted by bonaldi at 8:07 PM on November 7, 2008 [1 favorite]


Sticks instead of control yokes are more likely to make the Captain nostalgic for his/her salad days in the Air Force, leading to thoughts like "let's just see what this puppy can do"...
posted by tss at 8:11 PM on November 7, 2008


The center console has...boobs. Some sort of unconsciously comforting hand rest for male pilots with no big yoke between their thighs?
posted by gottabefunky at 12:04 AM on November 8, 2008 [1 favorite]


Hey... no fair! They get windows that open!
posted by alexei at 1:44 AM on November 8, 2008


I spent several minutes looking at that and enjoying it. But now as I read this thread, I have a constant feeling that, just as I settle in to scrutinize a particular comment, mefi will suddenly start scrolling very slowly, and I'll have to act quickly to stop it if I want to continue reading.
posted by rlk at 5:47 AM on November 8, 2008 [1 favorite]


Note the monitor in the middle showing the view from the camera mounted on top of the fin -- there's a camera in the nose also. The A-340 has these cameras too and some airlines (e.g. SAA) route the feed to the in-flight entertainment so you can watch from above the plane as it flies. I likes.
posted by NailsTheCat at 9:01 AM on November 8, 2008


I wonder what happens when the captain presses the big red "Entertainment" button right above his head.
posted by smartyboots at 11:02 AM on November 8, 2008


We have already talked about the boobs.
posted by tss at 11:03 AM on November 8, 2008


The center console has...boobs. Some sort of unconsciously comforting hand rest for male pilots with no big yoke between their thighs?

They're trackballs for scrolling around in the flight computer right above them.
posted by The Eponymous Pseudonymous Rex at 12:09 PM on November 8, 2008


The visible curved structure is only a support for the wrist and hand, the actual trackball is on the far side and not visible.
posted by Catfry at 1:02 PM on November 8, 2008


Can I get some antialiasing, please? Gah.
posted by ryanrs at 1:48 PM on November 8, 2008


Dood! They have Missile Command running on that thing too!
posted by markkraft at 1:48 PM on November 8, 2008


« Older Plenty Butter! Plenty Syrup! Very Good!   |   share desk photos Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments