Shuttle cockpit upgrade on back burner

[ToSeek]

Cockpit upgrade on back burner
Ideas from changes will be used in future flights

One thing Discovery won't carry is a cockpit upgrade Commander Steve Lindsey helped develop, but its ideas will be employed in the shuttle's successor.

The shuttle cockpits were designed in the 1970s, before designers thought much about how people would use them and how computers might help, Johnson Space Center's Bruce Hilty said.

"A bunch of engineers designed the way the shuttle operates," said Hilty, who worked with Lindsey on the avionics upgrade project.

The current cockpits don't employ safety lessons that have been learned over the years from aviation. "A tremendous percentage of aviation accidents are related to crew error," he said.

[publiusr]

In future spaceplanes--if any--we will see F-111 style escape capsules--I hope.

http://www.lunadude.com/pfolio-illus.htm (Scroll down.)

[Glom]

Shuttle cockpit

The EFIS cockpit of the Space Shuttle is a significant improvement over the original, but still looks clunky compared to the streamlined and efficient cockpits of modern airliners.

787
777
A380

[Nicolas]

Cockpits really are becoming clean with all this progress in computing and representation.

Looking at the orbiter cockpit and comparing it with say a soyuz capsule, it becomes clear just how HUGE that orbiter is we put into space. If it was not happening, I'd hardly believe we actually put a large plane into space, compared to the capsules.

[Ara Pacis]

It won't be proper until we have only two big buttons, green for go and red for stop.

[Nicolas]

Well, functionally you're not far from it. Nowadays, you can put in the desired route, get the thing in the air (this is in most cases done manually though it could be done automatically, but manual controls allows for quick reaction in case of mishaps), and then if flies itself to its destination. You don't even need to press red for stop, it will know itself when and where to land. All other functions are alternatives (backups, manual versions), information, and other functions. So a cockpit has lots and lots of functions, but in the end if you know how to input the route and the plane is revved up for start, it is as easy as you describe (in modern airliners that is! Forget it in your Skyplane ). On a nominal flight. And THAT's why there still are 2 very capable pilots in the craft. You probably have seen the cartoon of a cockpit steered by a robot, with a real pilot behind glass "in case of emergency, break glass". A cartoon, but that's about the function of a pilot on long haul flights. Pilot and copilot each look for x time at all instruments to check that everything is still in order.

There is an Airbus video of a pilot explaining his cockpit in flilght. During the video, the plane makes multiple turns. It's all automatic. The pilots just check and say "that's a good boy".

Though they can go manual whenever they want, or need.