Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Airbus: Pilots don't really need windows
Seattlepi.com via SFGATE ^ | 07/02/2014 | AUBREY COHEN

Posted on 07/08/2014 9:03:51 AM PDT by DFG

Future airliner flight decks may do away with windows and move out of the nose of the aircraft, according to Airbus.

The European airplane maker filed a patent application Dec. 23, published June 26, for a flight deck that relies mostly or entirely on electronic viewscreens.

The first advantage is aerodynamic, since flight deck windows require interrupting the ideal scalpel shape of the nose, Airbus wrote. Also, big windows and the reinforcement required for them add weight to the aircraft.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airbus
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

1 posted on 07/08/2014 9:03:51 AM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DFG

2 posted on 07/08/2014 9:05:46 AM PDT by Bratch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bratch

I wonder if they get ESPN on that thing?


3 posted on 07/08/2014 9:08:17 AM PDT by MeganC (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DFG

In the future airplanes with have a cockpit with only a man and a dog. The man’s job is to feed the dog and the dog’s job is to bite the man if he tries to touch anything.


4 posted on 07/08/2014 9:08:18 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bratch

it’s just not the same know that i know Sulu’s meat gazing


5 posted on 07/08/2014 9:08:19 AM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DFG
We don't need no windows!


6 posted on 07/08/2014 9:08:33 AM PDT by Carriage Hill ( Incoming fire always has the right of way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

How will they be able to see UFO’s?


7 posted on 07/08/2014 9:09:02 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Next it’ll be airplanes don’t need pilots.


8 posted on 07/08/2014 9:09:03 AM PDT by MUDDOG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Charles Lindbergh crossed the atlantic in an aircraft with no forward visibility and only two small side windows.


9 posted on 07/08/2014 9:10:01 AM PDT by tanknetter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

I agree. I’d go even further: why have a human flight crew at all? Most of the current flight operations are done by computer. All the human pilots do is stand by for situations that may require an intervention. More often than not, the intervention is the wrong one.


10 posted on 07/08/2014 9:10:30 AM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: carriage_hill

Real? Photoshop? Where? When?


11 posted on 07/08/2014 9:11:14 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (Remember Mississippi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: tanknetter

Lindbergh had forward visibility (barely) by way of a periscope.

OTOH, this is the obvious next step in a glass cockpit. You can give the pilots (theoretically) superior visibility around the aircraft with lots of cameras. It could work wonderfully ... until it doesn’t. With no windows, there’s no backup system.


12 posted on 07/08/2014 9:12:59 AM PDT by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: DFG

No Windows = No fun


13 posted on 07/08/2014 9:14:15 AM PDT by BillyBonebrake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PGR88
How will they be able to see UFO’s?

As is well known, UFO's communicate telepathically, so windows are not needed by sensitive and open-to-new-experiences pilots. F-104s had windows but that didn't prevent the Luftwaffe from flying four of them in perfect formation into a Bavarian Alp.

yarchive.net/mil/german_f104_losses.html

14 posted on 07/08/2014 9:16:23 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (The GOP is dying. What do we do now?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: InterceptPoint

IIRC, that was a huge RC model (BIG) that someone crashed...


15 posted on 07/08/2014 9:16:47 AM PDT by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by it"s weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants

I love it. Gave me the laugh of the day!


16 posted on 07/08/2014 9:17:15 AM PDT by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by it"s weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Chainmail

In the realm of totally computer controlled flight, the phrase “blue screen of death” takes on new significance.


17 posted on 07/08/2014 9:17:48 AM PDT by tbpiper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: DFG
Early in the design of Concorde, it was thought difficult/impossible to have flight deck windows, given extremes of temperatures, etc. Pilots would have nothing to do with the notion.

When all else fails, you need a human being. Recall the incident in Barcelona just a few days ago...
18 posted on 07/08/2014 9:18:21 AM PDT by Nepeta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

I wonder how that would have worked out in Barcelona in the last week or so...


19 posted on 07/08/2014 9:19:35 AM PDT by tje
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nepeta

Speaking of the Concorde, wasn’t the cockpit essentially windowless except for when the nose was hinged down for takeoff and landings?


20 posted on 07/08/2014 9:20:59 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson