Sat May 06, 2000 12:40 pm
Hi Dc-10, Buzz here. Critter had a good answer with the Super-DC9 cockpit, it looked like there was an "electronic meatball" up forward of the power levers.
And he touched on one topic that might be confusing: there's more than one source of electricity in an aircraft. The DC-8's and DC-10's had one knob to switch the Capt instruments and radio to the battery, which seldom melts down. Boeing airplanes usually run the Capt's instuments and radio off a "standby bus" which will take power from whoever it can (engines,APU, battery) so at least the left seat can fly and talk....
I don't know a lot about "Bigfoot", the 777. It's got LCD standby gauges which can run a long time on battery power. I don't know how it backs up the fly -by-wire stuff. The DC-8, DC-9, and DC-10 are also "fly by wires" airplanes, they use lots of steel cables and pulleys and bellcranks to move things. So what's the big deal? (grin). On the A320 series airplanes, the pitch is backed up by the manual horizontal stabilizer, and roll happens when you use the manual rudder, both steel cable. I guess it'll get you down to a runway...... In general i like the Airbus. You just have to learn a new language. g'nite
Buzz Fuselsausage, Line Mechanic by night, DC-3 Crew Chief by choice.
