Airbus Plane Of The Future: Windowless Cockpit, Or No Cockpit, Pilots To View Computer Screens

Airbus has applied for a patent for aircraft of the future to have windowless cockpits, or, even, no cockpits at all!

Now, while it might seem a little disconcerting for passengers to see no windows in the cockpit, the reasons are simple: efficiency and technological advances in computer imaging analysis.

Airbus is the brand name for planes manufactured in Europe by the EADS consortium. The group recently applied for a US patent showing a new cockpit design that replaces the traditional cockpit with one that uses 3D view screens in place of conventional windows.

From the time of the Wright Brothers, aircraft have always had pilots placed in a cockpit at the front of the plane, with windows so that they can see where they are going. The problem is that the windows ruin the aerodynamic design of the plane, and the nose area in particular, thus reducing its efficiency.

Actually, all windows disturb the aerodynamic function, and for engineers the most efficient flying machines would have no windows at all. Possibly passengers might also be able to view the outside world on computer screens, and not through windows. Apart from the aerodynamic aspect, windows add weight, and are a source of weakness in the fuselage. In the 1950s, the Comet airliners suffered a series of disastrous crashes and had to be withdrawn from service after it was discovered that the problem was with the window connection to the airframe.

Placing the cockpit in the nose reduces the cabin size, which means fewer seats; fewer seats equals fewer passengers which adds up to losses of thousands of dollars per flight.

In the the Airbus patent, exterior views are provided by a display formed by a combination of back projection, lasers, holograms, or OLED imaging systems coming from cameras outside the fuselage. There are additional cameras for taxiing and parking.

The problem is not whether these systems are better and more efficient, it’s whether the flying public will accept the concept. There are concerns currently being expressed about the dependence that pilots place on their fully computerized controls. There was, until now, some belief that a human was ultimately in charge if there was a computer glitch. The world is currently still wondering what happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370, and unsure of whether the problem was human, or computer error.

In theory, the Airbus idea widens the pilot’s field of view, and provides more flexibility about the display of information. It also reduces the weight of the aircraft, making it more fuel efficient. Security is another factor because the pilot area can be reinforced and separated from the main cabin.

Airbus has a big task ahead of it to persuade a skeptical public, and future passengers, to entrust their lives to a computer screen. It’s unfortunate that when computers stop working we say they “crashed.”

The fear with windowless cockpits is: Will one crash lead to another?