Aircraft cockpits have changed considerably over the past half century.The yoke-shaped control columns were replaced with joysticks, first developed for computer games.Analog clock-like instruments have given way to electronic displays with touch-sensitive screens.Honeywell Aerospace Vice President Ken Snodgrass said his company is testing its advanced cockpit in a small passenger jet.It has four very large screens,and you'll see things are set up to be very, very graphical.So, not like the older cockpits where you had a lot of button pushes.There's a lot more now like you use on your mobile phone and also for your tablets.Visually simplified information, displayed on small screens in front of a pilot's eye,will enable pilots to quickly grasp a situation and make the best possible decisions, said Thales Avionics Marketing Director Richard Perrot.This system is based on our 20 years of experience within the military field on helmet-mounted display systems,and for the first time we will introduce it on commercial aircraft.Thales'senior development engineer Sylvain Moos said similar changes are coming to air traffic control centers.We have no keyboard, no mouse.The controller is interacting with the system through the gaze information and the touchscreen.Manufacturers are not forgetting the passengers.
