Airbus has a dedicated ECAM panel forward of the throttles which is used to select a system for display on the LCD. Is there a similar panel used to select a particular system for display on Boeing's EICAS?
1 Answer
Boeing 777 fuel-system display; A.Katranzhi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The following:
- 747-400 and 747-8
- 777
- 787
... display aircraft systems digitally. Except the -400, they also have electronic checklists. For Boeing, it started with the 747-400. The main drive for it was customer demand. After which it was to be like the 757/767, but the "Airbus style" second-generation synoptics was settled on:
One launch customer, Cathy Pacific, originally wanted the standard electromechanical instruments, to avoid retraining. Boeing's initial approach too was "minimum change", but in 1985 other customers, happy with their Airbus and Boeing glass-panelled Efis twins and two-pilot efficiency, pressed for Efis.
(...)
Boeing first responded with the 757/767 flightdeck, keeping the same autopilot. "Minimum change" was still the watch-word. The users' committee became a formal body with chairman and minutes, and the Airbus A320 was now influential.
(...)
The lower Eicas display presents engine data—compressor speeds, oil pressures and temperatures—[and] a major change in Boeing philosophy, [a] systems "synoptics" Airbus style.
— Boeing's two new 400s. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 16 January 1988
Further reading for how it evolved:
- Stoll, Harty. "Boeing flight deck design philosophy." (1990). https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19910001624
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$\begingroup$ You might want to add that the panel to select pages is called the Display Select Panel. It is located on the glareshield between the MCP and the FO's EFIS controller. $\endgroup$ May 13, 2021 at 16:22
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$\begingroup$ @Bianfable: I wanted to address the terminology, but it's different even within the Boeing fleet, and that panel is different for the 787, so I thought to keep it simple. $\endgroup$– user14897May 13, 2021 at 16:24
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$\begingroup$ Sorry, I didn't realize they changed the terminology. The panels are all a bit different (I think 747-8 and 777 are quite similar) and the 787 system pages are selected on the screen. But they all have such a panel on the glareshield. $\endgroup$ May 13, 2021 at 17:27
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