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

PPRuNe Forums (https://www.pprune.org/)

- Rumours & News (https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news-13/)

- - Delta to Upgrade MD-88 and MD-90 Fleet With Enhanced Navigation and Flight Management (https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/511743-delta-upgrade-md-88-md-90-fleet-enhanced-navigation-flight-management.html)

This is not the display layout as shown on the IS&S page as per post # 3.
The horizon is probably better but the rest...

Can "those in the know" give more background as of why they dislike these systems ?

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.

This selection is a economics 101. There are no symbol generators with the IS&S displays and thus the replacement cost associted with the SB is eliminated. SB's are very expensive and believe it or not, they are getting hard to find as the OEM systems become more dated. Might not be the perfect answer, but still not a bad decision on DAL part.

Boeing offers a system to upgrade the OEM 757/767 flight displays. Have no idea the cost but I bet it's at least five times more, if not one just one dime?

Another factor in upgrading is training cost.

Whilst the cost of crew training for the electronics will be significant, my guess is that it will be lower than training for a new machine? That would also mean training for ground crews and so on and so on.