Comments on: Panoramic view of the Airbus A380 cockpit

Panoramic view of the Airbus A380 cockpit

Brandon Blatcher — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:40:53 -0800

It's a small cubicle you have toshare, but the view is pretty good.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:52:58 -0800

Ack counterintuitive scrolling! (Awesome.)

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:55:51 -0800

9 cupholders.

By: rodgerd

rodgerd — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:02:35 -0800

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

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:03:37 -0800

That was fantastic in fullscreen.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:45 -0800

Oh, and yeah I can only hope the plane is easier to control than the scrolling was.

By: jeffmik

jeffmik — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:06:57 -0800

9 cupholders. For some reason, that was one of the first things I noticed as well.

By: Big_B

Big_B — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:09:56 -0800

The navigator just gets a crappy little laptop?

By: Big_B

Big_B — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:10:37 -0800

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

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:12:58 -0800

Still pretty damn awesome.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:14:08 -0800

I like the exposed brick in the hallway back down the left side.

By: An Infinity Of Monkeys

An Infinity Of Monkeys — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:20:13 -0800

Good lord, that laptop is huge!

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:25:54 -0800

BUTTONS!!!

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:35:54 -0800

I wonder if the escape rope is 30,000ft long.

By: DU

DU — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:38:14 -0800

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.)

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:47:31 -0800

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.

By: pivotal

pivotal — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:48:32 -0800

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.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:01:13 -0800

Errr - whatever the guy behind the copilot is called - Roger? We have clearance, Clarence.

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:08:41 -0800

NO STEERING WHEEL WTF.

By: ctmf

ctmf — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:33:40 -0800

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.

By: troy

troy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:56:43 -0800

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.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:02:48 -0800

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.

By: troy

troy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:05:57 -0800

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.

By: troy

troy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:07:25 -0800

and the aerodynamics of the wings does the Bernoulli thing grrr

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:15:56 -0800

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.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:19:18 -0800

Why it this on the internet where the terrorists can see it!?

By: troy

troy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:20:01 -0800

grrrrrrrr

By: tss

tss — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:26:44 -0800

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>

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:38:17 -0800

grrrrrrrrrr

By: Oyéah

Oyéah — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:40:37 -0800

Oh the joysticks!

By: Oyéah

Oyéah — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:48:16 -0800

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.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:07:54 -0800

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.

By: tss

tss — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:11:06 -0800

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"...

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:04:33 -0800

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

By: alexei

alexei — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:44:18 -0800

Hey... no fair! They get windows that open!

By: rlk

rlk — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:47:52 -0800

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.

By: NailsTheCat

NailsTheCat — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:01:27 -0800

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.

By: smartyboots

smartyboots — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:02:17 -0800

I wonder what happens when the captain presses the big red "Entertainment" button right above his head.

By: tss

tss — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:03:56 -0800

We have already talked about the boobs.

By: The Eponymous Pseudonymous Rex

The Eponymous Pseudonymous Rex — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:09:44 -0800

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.

By: Catfry

Catfry — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:02:26 -0800

The visible curved structure is only a support for the wrist and hand, the actual trackball is on the far side and not visible.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:48:03 -0800

Can I get some antialiasing, please? Gah.

By: markkraft

markkraft — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:48:59 -0800

Dood! They have Missile Command running on that thing too!