Boeing 747History, variants & specifications

Boeing 747-8 Flight Deck

The 747-8 flight deck adds 787-derived technology while retaining 747-400 commonality.

The redesigned flight deck on the 747-8 incorporates technology from the 787 flight deck while preserving operational commonality with the 747-400

  • Boeing 747-8 flight deck showing large displays and electronic flight bags
    1. Electronic flight bag (EFB). The Boeing Class 3 EFB (optional on the 747-8) brings digital information management to the flight deck; substantially reduces the need for paper; and improves communication among flight crews, dispatchers, and air traffic management. 2. Vertical situation display (VSD). The VSD gives pilots a clear view of the airplane’s current and projected flight path. An early warning alerts the crew if the airplane’s trajectory is in conflict with the terrain or deviating from the desired approach path. Graphical presentation of the vertical situation facilitates early detection of path errors, including missed glide slope intercepts. 3. Flight management computer (FMC). The new FMC can store all data currently available from the worldwide navigation database and is designed to accommodate the anticipated increase in data in the next 20 years. 4. Electronic checklist. Comprehensive electronic checklists enhance safety, save time, and reduce the amount of paper that pilots and flight crews must carry on board. Electronic checklists are easy to update, revise, and distribute. Airlines can customize the checklists to conform to their own procedures. 5. Airport moving map (AMM). The AMM combines high-fidelity airport taxi charts and an electronic map of airport taxiways, runways, and gates, providing precise navigational signals that show flight crews the airplane’s position on the ground. The flight deck includes a new flight management computer, integrated approach navigation, global-positioning-landing-system autoland, navigation performance scales, and vertical situation display. Liquid-crystal-display screen technology replaces cathode-ray-tube screens throughout the flight deck. The 747-8 has the same type rating as the 747-400, enabling operators to increase schedule flexibility and pilot productivity by employing a single-pilot pool flying multiple airplane types. Befitting a brand-new, next-generation airplane, the Intercontinental is essentially a flying computer, Boeing said. That’s due to a flight deck brimming with high-tech avionics and navigation systems. These systems include a state-of-the-art flight management computer, a future air navigation system (FANS)-2 data link, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) landing system, and integrated approach navigation. According to Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communications’ Jim Proulx, the new plane also features an airport moving map system integrated into its front display screen, allowing both pilots to see, without moving their heads, their plane’s precise location on the tarmac. This means that in low visibility situations, pilots of a 747-8 Intercontinental can easily see where they are at any given time when on the ground. “It’s an extra tool to let you know where you are on the runway surface,” Proulx said. At the same time, because the Intercontinental is so similar to the 747-400, Boeing expects that pilots flying the current-gen 747 will be able to very quickly get up to speed on the new plane. Boeing said in a brochure that it should take just three days of training for 747-400 pilots to qualify for the Intercontinental.

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