Flight Deck Evaluation
 

Hi Guys,

Just want to check if any of you guys have been to a manufacturer's cockpit evaluation for certification.

What is it all about and what are we suppose to do there ?

Cheers,
lion-g

I've run such a program for certification.

Basically, the manufacturer is trying to determine if there are any 'human factors' issues that might not have been detected during the design and internal testing process - things that would be likely to show up when external pilots (with varying degrees of familiarity with the type) begin to fly the aircraft.

The data collected can sometimes result in minor changes to the flight compartment design or nomenclature, the training programs, and the documentation for the aircraft. It is also very useful when the time comes to develop a MMEL and/or CDL for the type.

Michael

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

How much inputs are you guys expecting when you are running such program ?

Is it very structured ? What kind of preparation are we expected to do before the evaluation ?

Thanks

It's both structured (possibly a pre-planned flight excercise in the aircraft or the simulator) and unstructured - discussion of your subjective opinion of the design.

No preparation is really needed if you have been invited to participate - just go there with an open mind, see what there is to see, try and refrain from forming opinions based directly on comparisons to the prior model (that assumes that the aircraft is an evolution of a prior model).

Michael