From: rdd@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Robert Dorsett)
Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics
Subject: REVIEW of THE GLASS COCKPIT
Date: 31 Jul 1992 03:13:40 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

The recent comment about "keyboard" based FCU interfaces reminded me that I 
probably forgot to post this when I first did it.  No matter: this 
tape will help to clear up a LOT of misconceptions about flight manage-
ment systems.  

The major reservation I have with it is the "parallax" problem 
described blow.  Just remember that the glass of the CDU CRT's about
a centimeter beneath the L/R push-buttons.

One other reservation is that the publisher *does* deliver, but:
last December, I ordered their 727 systems review course.  It arrived
within two days.  *But*.  I back-ordered the wall-charts that came with
it.  Well, it's nearly August, and I still haven't received them.  They 
*claim* to have a really bad printer, who keeps on sending them unusable
garbage.  Um, yeah, right.  I've yet to figure this one out: they're
very good, otherwise, in customer support.




--
Robert Dorsett
Internet: rdd@rascal.ics.utexas.edu
UUCP: ...cs.utexas.edu!rascal.ics.utexas.edu!rdd

------------------------


Date: 20 Oct 91 14:03:31 GMT
From: rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett)
Subject: REVIEW of THE GLASS COCKPIT


THE GLASS COCKPIT.  80 min.  $49 + $3 S&H.  Aviation & Space Videos,
316 N.  12th St., Sacramento, CA  95814.  800-348-9933.

"The Glass Cockpit" is an introduction to the Flight Management System
(FMS) concept, using the 757/767 cockpit environment as a practical
example.  FMS's comprise the backbone of the operation of modern jet
aircraft, and were introduced beginning in the early 1980's.

The setting is that of an operational United Airlines 767 flight
simulator.  The tape follows this approximate format:
        - Introduction to displays:
                - electronic attitude director indicator (EADI). 
                - Nav display (EHSI).  
                - upper Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System
                  (EICAS).
                - lower EICAS.  
        - Intro to autopilot mode control panel.  
        - Detailed coverage of the Control Data Unit (longest segment).

The tape finishes with an event-oriented flight from LAX to SFO,
including a demonstration of how to use the FMS to accomodate two
changed clearances: one at departure, and one inbound.  It finishes
with a CAT IIIA landing.  It's exclusively demonstrated on the
instruments: the only "out the window" view is when the airplane
crosses decision height (and even that's overlayed on what we'd be
seeing on the EADI).

The narrator/emcee sits in the captain's seat, showing us around the
cockpit and systems.  A split-screen format is frequently used, as is a
screen pointer.  The coordination of the presentation of systems is
good: changes made through the CDU or autopilot mode panel are shown on
the EADI or EHSI.


Overall, the quality of the tape comes across as somewhat amateurish:
there's a lot of background noise from the simulator, for instance, so
the narrator has to speak up, which in turn sounds kind of
stiltish--rather like those 50's and 60's-era documentaries we all had
to sit through in grade school. :-)  

A major failing is that we *see* changes to the CDU through the *right* 
CDU.  However, the majority of the changes are *made* through the *left* 
CDU.  Thus, we don't see EXACTLY how items are "put into the scratchpad" 
or assigned to other items (an operation which, surprisingly, looks a lot 
like Mac- style Cut & Paste).  The narration usually goes "Now, we'll 
put line L# in the scratchpad, then put it in over line R#..."  But we
don't really see the mechanics involved.

The strong point is the quality of the amount of data on the subject
matter itself: it's an excellent introduction to the systems.  The
narrator is clearly a proponent of FMS systems, but one has got to
wonder whether his basic points (smarter, more economical, faster) are
presented effectively: there's a LOT of heads-down workload in that
simple run from LAX from SFO.  It's an unrealistic example for a 767,
but we know that 737s (and MD-80s, and, eventually, A320s) have to do
this all the time.  And the CDU comes across as the User Interface from
Hell: slow, and with a hodgepodge of text sizes and styles.  It's very
difficult to tell what the "active" fields are, and what the labels are
(it's bad enough that I started to suspect parallax between the
selector buttons and fields from the camera angle, but when we actually
see what the fingers are doing, it turns out that it really is that
bad).  Even the narrator gets "lost" a couple of times.  But I
digress.  Again. :-)

Overall, the tape's worth having, for those interested in glass
cockpits.


Glossary:

CAT IIIA   An ILS landing, with no decision height, and RVR of 700'.  
CDU        Control Data Unit.  Primitive, keyboard-driven interface between 
           pilot & FMC.  
EADI       Electronic Attitude Director Indicator.  
EHSI       Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator.  Shows A/C plan view
           relative to navaids and waypoints.  
EICAS      Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System.  For engine and systems 
           monitoring, systems messages, and checklists Replaces F/E and 
           traditional center instruments.  
F/E        Flight Engineer.
FMC        Flight Management Computer.  Central aspect of the FMS.  
FMS        Flight Management System. The sum total: FMC, CDU, IRS, displays, 
           etc.  
ILS        Instrument Landing System.  A way of landing airplanes in low 
           visibility.  
IRS        Inertial Reference System.  Black box that tells pilots where the 
           plane is.  
LAX        Los Angeles International Airport.  
RVR        Runway Visual Range.  Visibility down the runway, measured by 
           mechanical instruments.  
SFO        San Francisco International Airport


Disclaimer: I have no personal or business connection whatsoever with
Aviation & Space Videos, Inc, or any of its products.




Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics