Flight Crew (Flight Deck) Compartment Layout

The pilot cockpit, of course, is at the front-closure end of the fuselage to provide for­ward vision. The maximum accommodation is two side-by-side, generously spaced seats; an additional crew member for larger aircraft is seated behind the two pilots (Figure 4.17). In the past, there were two flight crews to assist two pilots; today, with improved and reliable systems, two flight crews have become redundant. There could be provision for one.

The pilot’s seat is standardized as shown in Figure 4.18, with generous elbow – room to reduce physical stress. The windscreen size must allow adequate vision (see Figure 4.17), especially looking downward at high altitudes, during landing, and dur­ing ground maneuvers.

4.7.2 Cabin Crew and Passenger Facilities

A vital fuselage design consideration is offering passenger services – the more pas­sengers, the more complex the design. This book does not cover details of interior design, a specialized state-of-the-art feature that is more than the mere functional­ity of safety, comfort, and efficient servicing. The aesthetics also offer an appealing

dimensions in cm minimum dimension

50 to 80

horizontal line of sight

stick and pedal neutral position is at the center of deflections

seat adjustment (either side vertical = 7 6 cm and horizontal – A cm

7 6 cm is the adjustment and 10 cm is the pedal deflection dimensions

Figure 4.18. Pilot-seat dimensions and welcoming friendly environment to passengers. Physiological and psychologi­cal issues such as thrombosis, claustrophobia, and fear of flying can be minimized through careful design of the seat-pitch arrangement, window locations, environ­mental controls (i. e., pressurization and air-conditioning), and first-aid facilities. Discussed herein are typical seat pitch, toilet, and service-galley arrangements in fuselage-space management that contribute to fuselage length.

The minimum number of seats abreast is one row, which is not a practical design – one would have to crawl into the cabin space. There must be at least two- abreast seating (e. g., Beech 200 and Learjet 45); the most to date is ten-abreast seat­ing with two aisles in the Boeing 747 and Airbus 380. The two-aisle arrangement is convenient for more than six-abreast seating. As passenger capacity exceeds six hundred (if not in a double-deck arrangement), the fuselage depth allows an attrac­tive design with BWB when more than two aisles are possible. A BWB military combat aircraft has been successfully designed but its high-capacity civil aircraft version awaits development, delayed primarily by the technology-development and airport-infrastructure limitations; the market has yet to evolve as well.

The minimum number of cabin crew is subject to government regulations. For fewer than nineteen passengers, no cabin crew is required but can be provided if an operator desires. For 19 to 29 passengers, at least 1 cabin crew is required. For 30 or more passengers, more than 1 cabin crew is required. The number of cabin crew increases correspondingly with the number of passengers.