Control in the Sky: the Evolution and History of the Aircraft Cockpit - Hardcover

Coombs, L.F.E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844151484 ISBN 13: 9781844151486

Publisher: Leo Cooper Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

In the first early years of aviation, the control systems and instruments found in a typical aircraft cockpit were few and simple, but did form the basic pattern of requirements still used today. Although pioneering aeroplanes seldom achieved speeds above 100 mph or reached altitudes above 10,000 feet, pilots still required reliable information on speed, altitude, attitude, engine condition and compass direction. Instruments and controls were designed and positioned for mechanical convenience rather than pilot comfort. This situation continued well into the 1930s and then the remarkable increase in aircraft performance created during World War II generated an altogether different working environment for pilots who now had to cope with a multitude of information sources and far more sophisticated control mechanisms. Aircraft designers now considered how best to organise cockpits and flight decks to assist the pilot. This is the history of how ergonomically designed civil and military aircraft cockpits and flight decks evolved. Civil aircraft now regularly fly at transonic speeds at around 35,000 feet, and military jets at twice the speed of sound on the edge of space. These are demanding environments. However, modern cockpit-technologies, with simplified presentation of flight information and finger-tip controls, have eased pilot's tasks.

About this title

Review

Although a modern aircraft cockpit boasts enough of an array of sophisticated dials, gadgets, buttons, switches, computer technology and bells and whistles to baffle a rocket scientist, as this book shows, the basic design of an aircraft control system has barely changed since the pioneering days of flight. The early pilots who flew at speeds of less than 100 mph and never climbed higher than 10,000 feet still needed reliable information of altitude, temperature, wind speed and direction, fuel and the state of their engines. Early cockpit design was geared to mechanical efficiency rather than pilot comfort - a situation which endured until the far reaching technical changes ushered in by the Second World War. THis is the history of this evolution in cockpit design - from the stringbags flown by the Wright Brothers down to today s jumbo jets flying at transonic speed and at heights of 35,000 feet. Compared to their predecessors, today s pilots have a more complex - but certainly a more comfortable flight. --Naval and Military Press

A fascinating history of the evolution of cockpit control and design from the primitive gear of a century ago, to the computer-driven sophistication of today s jet airliners. --Naval And Military Press

Edition details

• Publisher: Leo Cooper Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844151484
• ISBN 13: 9781844151486
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320