737 overhead panel
 

Anyone know why some of the 737 overhead panels are coloured light grey? And what do those little white crosses mean?

:p In the dim past i seem to remember that there are 3 panels painted a light grey as opposed to the darker colour of the rest of the panel....on a -200 anyway. fuel, hyds and elec i think. The colour change is to aid the coffee spillers when there is an emergency as these panels are the most important ones.
I probably wrong about which panels are painted but memory isn't everything!!:confused:

Pedro, the bait is a little short on taste.

Thanks for the info

Hope you don't mind a "coffee spiller" on your forum!! An easyjet one at that.

Look forward to any other info on the panel colours

regards

The light gray panels are indeed for the coffee spillers, or trimethylxanthine liberators if you prefer. The annunciator panel lights correspond to which section has the anomaly, those sections that are light gray have a corresponding annunciator light. Serendipitously they are laid out in the order of the annunciator lights. Id est, the right upper left annunciator will have a right upper left light gray panel, and so forth. (sorry for the American spelling, but can’t afford the 300 dollars for the OED)

Okay, it's been awhile since I've been in the 73 and I don't have the oil skins, but.... the block of annunciators on the glare shield panel (think there are 6 of them), the general ones that say hydraulics (or whatever) correspond to the light gray panels. At least that is my understanding in the -200. But I've been wrong before. Or was it that the light gray panels have immediate action items associated with them... ummm well you got me thinking now.... wonder which it is.

Do I edit the old reply or post a new one? Well, for everyone to see my errors I will leave the previous post up.

Talked with an experienced 737 driver who flew the airplane for different air carriers, his response was "If you have an engine failure, the light gray panels will all need timely attention. They are not "memory" items, but will be addressed in the checklist." They are not used for anything special by his company, maybe the gray panels are used by some other airline for a useful purpose.

I certainly apologize for spreading the previous misinformed rumors, I thought I knew, but I didn’t.
:o

Light Gray Panels
 

If you pull a fire switch the systems on the affected engine (or APU) which will be cut off or isolated are those controlled by the switches on the lighter colored panels. In the 737NG it's Fuel, Electrical, Hydraulic fluid flow, and Pneumatics.
:eek:

Light grey colour ... ?


For the 732, the word straight from the horse's mouth is ..

"Primary system control panels - fuel, electrical, hydraulic and air-conditioning - are painted a lighter grey"

Source

Boeing Advanced 737-200 Systems
Doc D6-24014A-R1 Page 17

I don't have the equivalent document for the later models, but I would presume that the tale is much the same ......

Hi guys,
I have it on very good authority, that the overhead panels of the B737 were coloured the two different shades of grey, to suit a special purpose, originating back in the -200 series, and just hasn't been changed.

The reason was during the initial certification of the -200, it was the first of the Boeings jets to operate with a two man crew, so the company had to prove to the FAA that they could handle all the various normal/emergency functions without a Flight Engineer.

But, during those verification flights, the aircraft was required to carry a Flight Engineer, and he was trained to take care of certain basic aircraft systems, should it be necessary!!

Those panels he was required to use were painted a different shade of grey to avoid confusion.

Well, I understand they managed to convince the FAA that the two man crew could monitor and operate all the necessary controls, though there are numerous incidents since then, indicating that, at least some pilots, cannot.

'believe that !!!
Cheers

:) The two different colours of the overhead is to bring to the attention of the crew the systems that are effected by pulling an engine fire handle. The light grey are the systems involved.

Aw 5h1t,
I thought it was a mistake, raised a snag and had 'em all painted.:D :D