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FOR a number of years now it has been evident that a successor to the well‐tried Vickers Viscount and Convoir 240/340/440 series was required. However, the big problem was to design an aircraft such that its economics and passengerappealweresub‐stantially better than the machines it would ultimately replace. Other important factors which had to be con‐sidered were improved reliability, easier and cheaper maintenance, higher standards of safety and means of reducing ramp times. Furthermore, the difficult choice of passenger capacity and cruising speed had to be made. Probably the easiest decision was to employ the twin‐engine configuration with the power plants placed in the now familiar rear position, one on cither side of the fuselage.

This paper discusses a programme of work being carried out jointly by the British Aircraft Corporation and Hawker Siddeley Aviation, into the design of flight decks for future civil transport aircraft. The programme is aimed at exploring all aspects of flight deck design, in sufficient depth to enable decisions to be made as to whether or not significant changes could, or should be introduced into aircraft scheduled to enter service in the 1980s. Some of the information now presented has been published previously by my colleagues engaged on the programme. I make no apology for this, since any story worth telling is also worth repeating — and perhaps embellishing in the process.

The helicopter has been in existence, in its present form for over 50 years and it possesses a wide variety of operational use. This paper focuses on the development of the shipborne helicopter which requires controlled flight in a very complex and potentially dangerous atmospheric environment surrounding a ship's flight deck. This type of helicopter requires dedicated design features to enable appropriate missions to be successfully achieved. It is an interesting feature of the shipborne helicopter that operational problems are as important with the aircraft in contact with the deck as to flight above it. Also there are problems, which begin with extracting the aircraft to the hangar to its eventual reinsertion. The avoidance of unfavourable characteristics has, over the years, resulted in an air vehicle where the aeroelastic properties of the rotor blades govern the operation. The magnitude of the wind speeds over a ship's deck, coupled with the varying rotor speed during the engage and disengage parts of a sortie, expose the rotors to dangerous blade deflections which have, in the past, resulted in damage to the aircraft and, in severe cases, fatalities.

Describes how the Next Generation (NG) Boeing 737‐600/700/800/900 flight deck uses either of two instrument panels. One is based on the 737‐300/400/500 series and the other on the 777 and 747‐400. These are more commonly known as the EFIS/MAP and the PFD/ND layouts, respectively. The article goes on to describe the flight deck of the Boeing 717 which first flew last year, and how this has been adapted from previous designs.

New wrap‐around visual display technique provides a realism not previously attainable from any crew position on the flight deck.

In this article the requirement leading to the design is discussed and this is followed by a general description of the aircraft and its operating efficiency. The accommodation is described, with particular reference to the flight deck and equipment. The various systems and installations are next reviewed; followed by a detailed description of the various structural components, which, in many cases, have been designed round these systems. The development work that has been done in order to allow design and construction to be completed will be described in some detail in a later article.

A LONG‐AWAITED and hoped‐for recovery seems to be under way in the aircraft industry and a cautious welcome was given to this phenomenon at Farnborough. Soon after the close of the Show came news of the sizeable Pan Am order for A310 and A320 aircraft with leasing arrangements for A300's and A310's to be implemented as soon as possible. The competitive atmosphere in the sphere of air transport has intensified even more between Boeing and Airbus because the wide range of types marketed by the former is now being challenged in many areas and in fact, Airbus is producing an aircraft that does not quite conform to anything produced by the American company. Of course, the 7–7 was mentioned at the Show but without a firm commitment.