Technology and Computers in Today’s Aircraft

Orville and Wilbur Wright had only three instruments in their first airplane: a stopwatch, an anemometer for measuring wind speed and a tachometer. Now aircraft design engineers have managed to just about cover every inch of cockpit space with instruments, buttons and switches.

Though we tend to think that cockpit displays are just like fancy television screens, they are much more complex.  They are typically liquid crystal displays (LCD), backed by the control/display computer takes all of the sensor, condition and flight information and converts it digitally…and that's just the start. 

The glass cockpit is now the norm for new aircraft of all shapes and sizes — from personal, recreational aircraft to the largest of passenger aircraft.  Phoenix East Aviation's training fleet of aircraft includes glass cockpit aircraft so students become familiar with this advanced equipment as soon as they start to learn to fly.  It all adds more and more bits of information to make flying safer.