CREW STATION, PASSENGERS,
AND PAYLOAD
This chapter deals with design guidance for conceptual layout of aircraft crew
stations, passenger compartments, payload compartments, and weapons
installations in the various civilian and military specifications and in subsystem
vendors' design data packages.
CREW STATION
The crew station will affect the conceptual design primarily in the vision
requirements.
Pilot can determine both the location of the cockpit and the fuselage shape
in the vicinity of the cockpit.
For example, the pilot must be able to see the runway while on final
approach, so the nose of the aircraft must slope away from the pilot's eye at
some specified angle. While this may produce greater drag than a more
streamlined nose, the need for safety overrides drag considerations.
Similarly, for over-side vision may prevent locating the cockpit directly above
the wing.
• for aircraft cockpit few point are necessary
1. what range of pilot sizes to accommodate
For most military aircraft, the design requirements include accommodation of the 5th to the
95th percentile of male pilots, (i.e., a pilot height range of 65.2-73.1 in.).
conceptual design layout.
A cockpit designed for this size of pilot will usually provide sufficient cockpit space for
adjustable seats and controls to accommodate down to the 5th percentile of pilots.
General-aviation cockpits are designed to whatever range of pilot sizes the marketing
department feels is needed for customer appeal, but typically are comfortable only for those
under about 72 in.
Commercial-airliner cockpits are designed to accommodate pilot sizes similar to those of
military aircraft.
The two key reference points for cockpit layout are shown.
1. The seat reference point, where the seat pan meets the back, is the reference for the floor
height and the legroom requirement.
2. The pilot's eye point is used for defining the overnose angle, transparency grazing angle,
and pilot's head clearance (10-in. radius).
This cockpit layout uses a typical 13-deg seatback angle, but seatback angles of 30 deg are in use
(F-16), and angles of up to 70 deg have been considered for advanced fighter studies.
When designing a reclined-seat cockpit, rotate both the seat and the pilot‘s eye point about
the seat reference point, and then use the new position of the pilot's eye to check overnose
vision.
Overnose vision is critical for safety especially during landing, and is also important for air-
to-air combat. Military specifications typically require 17-deg overnose vision for transports
and bombers, and 11-15 deg for fighter and attack aircraft.
General-aviation aircraft land in a fairly level attitude, and so have overnose vision angles of
only about 5-10 deg.
Civilian transports frequently have a much greater overnose vision angle, such as the
Lockheed L-1011 with an overnose vision angle of 21 deg.
Civilian overnose vision angles must be calculated for each aircraft based upon the ability of
the pilot to see and react to the approach lights at decision height (100 ft) during minimum
weather conditions (1200-ft runway visual range). The higher the approach speed, the greater
the overnose vision angle must be.
Above equation is close approximation, based upon the aircraft angle of attack during
approach and the approach speed.
where Vapproach is in knots.
The smallest angle between the pilot's line of vision and the cockpit windscreen. If this angle
becomes too small, the transparency of the glass or plexiglass will become substantially
reduced, and under adverse lighting conditions the pilot may only see a reflection of the top
of the instrument panel instead of whatever is in front of the aircraft!
