Boeing 747-400 EICAS
EICAS (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System) consolidated the 747-400’s engine parameters and system alerts onto two of six display units, splitting messages into advisories, cautions and warnings. A Central Maintenance Computer records faults for mechanics.
On the 747-400, entire panels of mechanical gauges were replaced by EICAS — a pair of CRT displays showing engine parameters and every system alert the crew needs, ordered by urgency.
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System |
| Displays | Main and auxiliary EICAS among the six display units (PFDs, NDs, EICAS ×2) |
| Alert levels | Advisory, caution and warning, shown as text and graphics |
| Maintenance | Central Maintenance Computer (CMC) records LRU-level faults |
EICAS cut the classic 747’s dense instrument landscape down to six display units — the captain’s and first officer’s PFDs and NDs plus two EICAS screens. Because all six share display electronics, a single electronics unit failure blanks the whole deck, an important design constraint for the type.
The 747-400 was the first Boeing airliner with a centralised maintenance system: its Central Maintenance Computer gathers fault records from every system and shows mechanics exactly which line-replaceable unit failed — the ancestor of today’s onboard diagnostics.
Sources
- Letters on 747-400 display-unit failure handling — NTSB
- The 747-400 from the maintenance perspective — Aircraft Commerce
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- Letters on 747-400 display-unit failure handling — NTSB
- The 747-400 from the maintenance perspective — Aircraft Commerce
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