Delta to Upgrade MD-88 and MD-90 Fleet With Enhanced Navigation and Flight Management

[oceancrosser]

I can give you a few of my own observations re the IS&S displays.

-The Primary Flight Display (PFD) is really cluttered, owing no least to the fact that everything from the Navigation Display (ND) is copied on the bottom part. This would be an ideal composite picture if the ND faild. Otherwise a useless complication.
-The Horizon is small and colours are somewhat ambiquous, for example the magenta colour of the flight director. This has improved somewhat with newer generation displays.
-The speedtape is, well a bad design.
-Selections on the Display Control Panel are in a different order than on the display in front of the pilot. A basic error in human factors and motor memory issues.
-Selection of radar and EGPWS on the displays is, simply silly.
-Programming of the picture on the ND is bad. I know nothing about computer programming, but every TCAS target has a big black box around it that covers items "below" or under it. Really a big step back from the old CRTs.
-Brightness of displays is limited in really bright sunlight.

I am sure to be forgetting something. The idea is fair enough, but these displays really have taken some getting used to. I have flown both the 737NG and 777 simulators, and the displays there were very easy to use from the first minute.