Radar panel

[andrej]

Hi all,
anybody knows a reason, why some B744's had installed side radar panels? It seems that some of the earlier B744s were fitted with a side weather radar. Was the weather radar on ND not as effective as later versions or was it not initially available? Or was it merely airline's request to install reliable equipment that worked on B742s, while not having an experience with integrated weather radar on ND (something similar to an initial request of a few airlines (QFA comes to mind) to have 3 person crew on B767s)*?

Or is it not a weather radar panel?
I am enclosing some photos to see what I mean (BA planes).

Lower left side, near captain's seat


Lower left corner, next to captain's knee and a yoke


Northwest had them installed on both sides


One more shot of NWA


*https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=324423
Thanks!

[John H Watson]

I have worked on 744's with the side radar displays, but it's so long ago, I don't remember why they had it. It may have been a lack of faith in the navigation display.

According to the maintenance manual, it was an Allied Signal X-band system. They may not have been compatible with the newer predictive windshear type system. I think aircraft fitted with these displays only had the older type radar control panel on the pedestal.

The controls on the side displays were very rudimentary:

OFF/RDR to turn on the indicator power supply and to turn on the selected radar system.
AUX to allow the indicator to display radar information. I think it turned off the ND display. The data for the ND and side displays use different types of databus (ARINC 429 instead of ARINC 453)
BRT for brightness

[the mad hatter]

mine has them ( they came with deck)  but they seem like dummys     but they do hide a cubby box

[andrej]

I have worked on 744's with the side radar displays, but it's so long ago, I don't remember why they had it. It may have been a lack of faith in the navigation display.

According to the maintenance manual, it was an Allied Signal X-band system. They may not have been compatible with the newer predictive windshear type system. I think aircraft fitted with these displays only had the older type radar control panel on the pedestal.

The controls on the side displays were very rudimentary:

OFF/RDR to turn on the indicator power supply and to turn on the selected radar system.
AUX to allow the indicator to display radar information. I think it turned off the ND display. The data for the ND and side displays use different types of databus (ARINC 429 instead of ARINC 453)
BRT for brightness

Thank you John for informative post. The good thing is that the integrated weather radar in the ND proved itself and airlines could save some weight.

mine has them ( they came with deck)  but they seem like dummys     but they do hide a cubby box

Yes, it is a nice storage space. I have seen some airlines (CX?) use it for flashlight storage.

Cheers,