Boeing gives further peek at B747-8

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Perhaps something that others haven't yet seen?
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/
Cheers, Richard

[stekeller]

Just saw that.

Right off the bat, it is interesting that there are 2 changes that I noticed from previous photos and artist's concepts:

1. The MCP displays are in fact LCDs now and not the mechanical versions found on the original 747-400 as shown in the illustration here:

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/startup/pdf/747-8_fltdeck.pdf

2. It seems as if Boeing has moved away from the CCDs found on the 777 as seen on older depictions of the cockpit to a knob below the FMC that is being introduced on the 787 .

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4406654    (scroll down)

Overall, it looks pretty much the same - which makes sense as it will require the same type rating as the 747-400 so all pilots will need is a short differences course.

A major enhancement on the 747-8 that cannot be seen in the shot will be the installation of the 787's radar, which is supposed to be excellent.

Also, anybody else notice what is different with the standby "whiskey" compass compared to the original 747-400s?

- Stefan
KORD

[Qavion]

1. The MCP displays are in fact LCDs now and not the mechanical versions found on the original 747-400 as shown in the illustration here:

Not really new, Stefan. The 747-400ER had these 7 years ago! Many of our non-ER fleet have retrofitted LCD's. There's even one of our non-ER's flying around with the new Standby Instrument (ISFD).

Multi-scan radar on 744's has been around for a similar period.

What's interesting to me is the new pneumatics panel. I see some extra switches.

Rgds.
Q>

[stekeller]

Thanks for the info Qavion...

Maybe I was unclear. I meant that in previous 747-8 photos released by Boeing, it showed it as having mechanical displays on the MCP, which struck me as odd because as you say the LCDs have been around for a while.

Also, looking at some recent 747-400F photos, it looks like they might have the new style mag compass as well.

I thought the pneumatics panel looked weird. Hard to tell from the angle of the photo though.

One thing that is new is that apparently, the whole flight deck only comes in one configuration with everything from a single vendor - no options as I understand it. And only one choice of engines as well for that matter.

- Stefan
KORD

[Qavion]

Thanks, Stephan.

Seems that the aircon is the traditional type

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-8

[74pilot]

...

One thing that is new is that apparently, the whole flight deck only comes in one configuration with everything from a single vendor - no options as I understand it. And only one choice of engines as well for that matter.

- Stefan
KORD

THAT is a welcome relief (to some, myself included). So unnecessarily annoying with all these differences to keep track of when flying the same type, but in different setups. I appreciate a colorful and varied world, but when there seems to be no meaning other than just doing it a different way for the heck of it (or patent reasons), then it is just plain irritating.

We will get -8s in the coming years, but I have no clue whether we will all fly them, or just a selection of us, as it will still be a minority -8s compared to -400s

[stekeller]

I just saw this in Aviation Week, which surprised me:

"Boeing also continues to work toward door rigging test of the ram air turbine (RAT), the drop-down unit which is designed to feed additional hydraulic power to the 747-8 in the event of a main hydraulic system loss.

Boeing last hoped to perform the RAT door tests earlier this week, but engineering sources now say the tests won't even be attempted until Monday Sept. 14 at the earliest."

I did not know that the 747-8 had a RAT. I wonder where the controls for that are, or is it automatic?

- Stefan