Originally Posted by
Bergerie1
FlightlessParrot,
I believe it was made as small as possible in order to minimise the local Mach No. in the airflow over the roof. Anyone else know about this?
The flight deck of a 747 is small because unlike most airliners it is not at the very front of the nose section, it is in a bubble quite high up on the fuselage. It was put there as it was originally designed with military or freight options and the nose sections in some 747 freighters hinge upwards. For the passenger not familiar with the 747, at the very front of the first class section where they would expect the flight deck door to be there are two doors which when opened reveal just a cupboard. This has puzzled some passengers who were surprised to learn the flight deck was upstairs.