China Eastern Airlines has taken delivery of the first Airbus A350XWB equipped with a touchscreen option for the aircraft's large cockpit displays.
Since last year, Airbus has been carrying out tests with touchscreens on an A350-1000, and certification by the European Union Air Safety Agency took place in November of this year.
The technology is being introduced as an option by the company Thales. About 20 airlines have already chosen that their planes will be delivered with touchscreens.
Three of the six 15,4-inch screens in the A350 cockpit can be retrofitted to include touchscreens. This includes the two outermost screens, which normally show electronic flight map (EFB) information, and the bottom of the two central screens, which normally contain a for entering performance, performance and route information.
Airbus test pilot Jean-Michel Roy said the EFB's screens can be switched, at the touch of a button, to the multi-function screen. Since the route map is, on this occasion, on the central screen of the cockpit, with the touchscreen function.
The nice part about having the navigation chart on the center screen is that all pilots in the cockpit can interact with the route planner, it's a very useful feature on the ground.
As an alternative to the touchscreen display, pilots can enter information using a trackball (cursor) and a conventional keyboard, just like on the A380.
However, Roy points out that the Touch function on three screens prevents the pilot from moving the cursor between them at all times.
Allowing the two pilots to interact with the navigation maps reduces the workload, he adds, simplifies cockpit management during demanding stages of the flight, including calculating takeoff performance, accessing the previously established route and in the preparation periods for approaching the destination airport.
Roy points out that the A350 will retain the other methods of interacting with the displays, offering pilots alternatives if conditions like turbulence make it difficult to use the touchscreen.
“We are offering cheese and dessert”Roy said. “If I encounter turbulence, the [keyboard cursor control unit] might be more stable.”
Airbus will offer the touchscreens exclusively on the A350 for now. The aircraft listed in the article is an A350-900, with manufacturing number MSN373, registration B-30CW.
With information Flightglobal .
