COCKPIT DESIGN

Mohamed Sameer T K Dept. of Aeronautical JCET

1

LAYING OUT THE COCKPIT

It is the most difficult jobs faced by the avionics designer Reason for this difficulty
Space is extremely limited

Layout of instruments is driven by equal parts of

Engineering and human factors

DOCUMENTS GUIDING THE COCKPIT DESIGN

MIL-STD-203 Aircrew Station Controls and Displays
FAR 25.1303 Flight and Navigation Instruments

MIL-STD-203
This document calls for the consistent operation and

uniform actuation for all control in cockpit Forward, Upward or Clockwise Operation should increase the performance Conversely, Backward, Downward or Anticlockwise operation should decrease the performance Where switches mounted on panels having slopes within 30 deg must be flipped upwards to work, Whereas the switches having slope greater than 30 deg from vertical must be flipped forward to enable a function
4

MIL-STD-203

Displays should be perpendicular to the line of sight of

the operator, whenever possible, and never more than 45 deg from the line of sight when looking straight ahead.
Displays and controls for like functions should be

grouped and should encourage viewing and operation from left to right ,top to bottom, or back to front

FAR 25.1303
Federal aviation regulation dictate certain dictate

certain design constraints for the civil aircraft cockpits

FAR

25.1303 Flight and Navigation instruments requires each pilot station to be equipped with an airspeed indicator, an altimeter, a rate of climb indicator, a gyroscopic rate of-turn indicator and pitch indicator

Additionally, instruments visible from each pilot station

must include a free air temperature indicator ,a clock, and a magnetic compass direction indicator 6

T Configuration
FAR 25.1321 instruments: Installation, Arrangement and visibility prescribes the arrangement of the most important of these instruments in to familiar T.Paragraph.

The instrument that most effectively indicates the attitude must be on the panel in the top center position The instrument that most effectively indicates airspeed must be adjacent to and directly left of the instrument in the top center position
7

T Configuration

The instrument that most effectively indicates altitude must be adjacent to and directly right of the instrument in the top center position The instrument that most effectively indicates the direction of the flight must be adjacent to and directly below the instrument in the top center position

T Configuration

FAR 25.1322 Instruments Installation, Warning, Caution and Advisory lights

This document requires the following colour code for indicator lights
RED for warning lights indicating a hazard that may

require immediate corrective action

AMBER - for caution lights indicating a condition that

may require corrective action

GREEN This colour is to indicate safety operation
10