Boeing 747-8 Flight Deck

The 747-8 flight deck was redesigned around technology developed for the 787, while deliberately staying close enough to the 747-400 that the two share a type rating. That combination — newer equipment, same licence — is the point of it.

What changed from the 747-400

Liquid-crystal displays replace the cathode-ray-tube screens used throughout the 747-400 flight deck. Behind them sit a new flight management computer, integrated approach navigation, a global navigation satellite system landing capability with autoland, navigation performance scales and a vertical situation display.

Boeing describes five features in particular as setting the 747-8 flight deck apart.

Electronic flight bag

The Boeing Class 3 electronic flight bag, an option on the 747-8, brings digital information management to the flight deck. It substantially reduces the need for paper and improves communication between flight crews, dispatchers and air traffic management.

Vertical situation display

The vertical situation display gives pilots a clear view of the aircraft’s current and projected flight path. It warns the crew early if the trajectory conflicts with terrain, or deviates from the intended approach path — including a missed glideslope intercept, which a purely lateral display makes hard to spot.

Flight management computer

The flight management computer can hold the entire worldwide navigation database, and was specified with enough headroom for the growth in navigation data expected over the following two decades.

Electronic checklist

Electronic checklists replace paper ones. They are quicker to work through, easier to revise and distribute, and airlines can customise them to their own procedures.

Airport moving map

The airport moving map combines high-fidelity taxi charts with an electronic map of taxiways, runways and gates, and shows the aircraft’s own position on it. Integrated into the forward display, it lets both pilots see where they are on the ground without looking away.

It’s an extra tool to let you know where you are on the runway surface.

— Jim Proulx, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communications

That matters most in poor visibility, where runway and taxiway confusion has historically been a real hazard.

Commonality with the 747-400

For all the new equipment, the 747-8 has the same type rating as the 747-400. An airline can therefore fly both types from a single pilot pool, which helps schedule flexibility and pilot productivity. Boeing put the differences training for a 747-400 pilot at around three days.

This is the same logic Boeing applied across its range: make the newer aeroplane feel familiar enough that the conversion cost stays small, and airlines will find it easier to justify.