Hi there.

I was just wondering, it seems like the word cockpit is starting to disappear and the word flight deck is the replacement. Does anyone know a reason for this? Or is this just my imagination? Does cockpit mean more like a place where like a fighter pilot would spend his days, while a flight deck on an airliner is more like the command deck of some huge boat??

pt

Flew with someone the other day and she referred to it as a box office.

Just US/GB terminology.

regards

I prefer wheelhouse

Until recently my airline had a checklist that incorporated both terms;

Flight deck door - Closed
Cockpit windows - Locked

Go figure ????*@*@

The reference to cockpit has since disappeared - now they are just "windows".

Feminists?

Political correctness?

I always thought the term 'flightdeck' originated when B747 was introduced.

Depends on the flight crew. If "god" is flying then it is a cockpit

As far as I know the difference in terminology is that you can stand up and walk in and out of a flightdeck, & just sit in, and climb in and out of, a cockpit.

"flight deck" is two words.

It's a trend, methinks. For instance,

Then: Stewardess
Now: Cabin Crew

It's all about removing gender-oriented words.

And I wonder why the term "Steward" had to be "feminized" to "Stewardess" in the first place. We don't have "Lawyeress" or "Judgess." So now we're going about un-feminizing terms that we went out of our way to feminize to begin with... seems to me that some folks really need to get a hobby -- or a life.

Didn't it all come from the nautical world, like a lot of other aviation terms. Cockpit being where the coxwain would be located.

They'll be calling it the bridge next

I think some people are embarrassed to say cockpit.
They are probably the same people who say gender when they mean sex.
In the tradition of naming parts such as nacelle, empennage, fuselage, aileron etc., I would like to know what the French call the place where the drivers sit. I bet it sounds better than cockpit or flight deck.

As I under stand it cockpit came from the term Tap & Cocks denoting valves/pumps for operating the equipment.

Cockpit was the term used to describe where pilot and copilot operated.

With the introduction of God (the Flight Engineer) into the work place the more eloquent phase of Flight deck was introduced.

So the term cockpit should be used today for two man operated aircraft

i think it sounds pretty good

"Just US/GB terminology." More like Just US/US terminology

"I always thought the term 'flightdeck' originated when B747 was introduced." Umm, why yes, you are correct.



Cockpit or Flight Deck?

The term "cockpit" originated from the ancient sport of cock fighting where two fighting cocks were placed in a depression, or pit, in the center of a small arena. The floor of the pit is below the floor level of the arena and a low fence surrounds the pit and projects a foot or so above the floor of the arena. Because of the similarity, the term was also applied to small boats in which the crew and passengers sat in a sunken area below the deck level protected from water flowing on the deck by a low fence-like barrier or coaming.

When airplanes arrived in the early 20th century and evolved to the point of having what we now call a fuselage, the well-established nautical term of "cockpit" was applied to the openings in the top of the fuselage where the pilot compartment was situated. As airplane designs evolved into the modern closed-cabin configurations, the aeronautical sense of the term "cockpit" took on a different meaning and was used to identify the pilots' station regardless of form or location.

"Cockpit" or "Control Cabin" was therefore used for the pilots' stations in early transport design groups up to the time of the 707/727/737 airplane programs. When the 747 Program came along, however, major discussions took place on what to call an area that included the Control Cabin as well as extra crew seats and a possible crew rest area with bunks. The name "Flight Deck" was decided upon which eventually became a standard in the industry.

It is interesting to note that contemporary Flight Deck control panels still refer to a "Cockpit Voice Recorder" and not a "Flight Deck Voice Recorder." Amazingly, the term "cockpit” still persists in the industry.

When at a recent working group at Boeing, it was put to them that it would be a good idea to have a standard terminology.
We pointed out that we have Cockpit, Flight deck and control cabin and to give it one title, to stop any confusion.
They said they would go away and look at it and try to have a standard name.
This is with the B757 and hopefully would migrate onto the other aircraft.
I wonder what name they will come up for the Airfix Kit they are to build, meaning the B787 who don't get my English humor or wit.

Very interesting Mr. Spotty, I'm curious as to how recent the "working group" you refer to occured. Boeing has been using the term "Flight Deck" in lieu of "cockpit" in their publications since before the first 74 was produced. The department concerned with such things at Boeing is indeed named FLIGHT DECK ENGINEERING and has been for quite some time. Numerous Airbus docs however refer to both. One such doc is, Airbus Cockpit Philosophy by
Captain Etienne Tarnowski, 1999