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In this photograph of the Airbus A830 flight-deck there are two large "lumps" sticking up and out from the centre console, next to the engine thrust levers and flight-computer keypads:

enter image description here

I think they're just meant to be wrist-support for when pressing the keypad keys, but it seems odd to single-out that part of the flight-controls in particular for wrist-support. The lumps also seem rather tall to be used comfortably for extended periods (and I assume that's what the pull-out keyboards in the trays are for, so why bother having secondary keyboards down there in the first place?) - and it also hinders access to the 'inner' keys closer to the engine controls.

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  • $\begingroup$ They are also great hand holds for getting into/out of the seat!! $\endgroup$
    – mark
    Dec 16, 2016 at 21:42

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They are a different design of computer mouse:

computer mouse

As far as I can tell, the front disk is a track pad and the model in your picture has the mouse buttons on the front instead of the sides:

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Can you provide a link to the manufacturer's website or other current source? $\endgroup$
    – Dai
    Dec 17, 2016 at 15:39
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    $\begingroup$ I recently saw a video about the last flight of Jürgen "J.R." Raps who was chief pilot (I don't know the proper term) at Lufthansa. He explained some of the equipement of an A380, one of which was the mouse. "The first thing you see are the numerous screens and two “palm stones” that resemble ostrich eggs – which turn out to be computer mice especially designed for pilots. They make it possible to move the cursor properly even when there is turbulence." (pilotseye.tv/en/route/…) $\endgroup$
    – PerlDuck
    Dec 17, 2016 at 18:04
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    $\begingroup$ Here Jürgen Raps explains the controls of an A380. Jump to 3:40 to see the mouse in action. $\endgroup$
    – PerlDuck
    Dec 17, 2016 at 18:29
  • $\begingroup$ The picture is from this company's website: thalesgroup.com/en $\endgroup$
    – Unique Worldline
    Dec 17, 2016 at 20:28
  • $\begingroup$ I wonder if I can get a mouse like this for my desktop computer! $\endgroup$
    – Dai
    Dec 20, 2016 at 13:10

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