The wonderful SR-71 ha what looks to me an intimidating cockpit:
However, lots of planes of that era have ostensibly-similar cockpits to the layman, take this F-5 for instance:
I choose the F-5 as it was flying around the time the SR-71 was introduced, and thus potential SR-71 pilots may have been familiar with it. Would the cockpit designers have taken this into consideration? In general, are next-generation airplane cockpits designed to be familiar to pilots of current-generation aircraft?
Elements that may or may not be taken into consideration:
- Placement and relative placement or grouping of instruments
- Size and relative size of instruments
- Lighting, colours
- Calibration
- Materials selection