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-   -   brown or grey cockpits? (https://www.pprune.org/tech-log/625875-brown-grey-cockpits.html)

fox niner 27th Sep 2019 19:39

brown or grey cockpits?
 
Dear all-knowing ppruners,
Who can explain why the 747-400 and 777 cockpits are brown, while the 737’s and 787’s are dark grey?
I personally like grey better, but who knows the deeper reason for this color choice?

keep safe, regards.

The Range 27th Sep 2019 20:03

The DC-9's are green

stilton 27th Sep 2019 22:27


Originally Posted by fox niner (Post 10581048)
Dear all-knowing ppruners,
Who can explain why the 747-400 and 777 cockpits are brown, while the 737’s and 787’s are dark grey?
I personally like grey better, but who knows the deeper reason for this color choice?

keep safe, regards.

Because they used brown paint on those aircraft


Seriously I remember reading an article on this, Boeing’s research indicated that brown would make for a more restful ‘calmer’ ergonomic environment


Dunno, it certainly didn’t interfere with napping

FLCH 28th Sep 2019 00:12

it's to match your crew meal color.....

perantau 28th Sep 2019 06:26

​​​​​Moving from the 747 classic to the 747-400, the warm tone felt more pleasant. Then having gotten used to the 777, the 787 felt a bit grim and a tad depressing despite the modern look.

pattern_is_full 28th Sep 2019 07:03

Ennnhhh - I see a lot of 737s with brown cockpits. Seems to depend on age/era.

As a guess, the introduction of larger and more colorful displays has made a dark gray as "background" preferable (according to some trickcyclist or other). There are lots of people making their living analyzing environmental color and human performance. I think it was a big deal starting with the first nuclear subs - pinks and yellows and such to enliven long times at sea.

NASA's take (skip to page 110 (pdf. pg 113) for the Conclusions - the rest is a review of previous studies) - hue doesn't matter much, but general contrasts of color/tone do have not-fully-definable effects. Related to long-term exposure for space flight.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/c...9890006161.pdf

Personally, I find Airbus pale blue-gray nice, as well as lighter brown/beige. Night-lighting may interact with colors, though.

safetypee 28th Sep 2019 07:44

‘Boeing Brown’, was perhaps a contribution to attempts to differ from Airbus, particularly with the success of their Porsche designed flight deck. Thus ARINC avionics manufacturers were encouraged to provide the alternative colour.

Similar options were provided for GA aircraft.
BAe were approached by prospective customers to provide a brown flight deck for the DH125. ‘Good grief’, no way - ‘Elephants Breath’ Brown !
These views were supported by comparative investigations on the effect of flight deck background colour; mainly in support of Airbus work. However, some US completion centres did provide a brown flight deck for the 125.
One deviation from the conventional brown was that for a notable wax company - brown boot polish, where the flight deck and cabin were furnished in brown (suede) leather.

blue up 28th Sep 2019 08:06

At least 7 different shades of brown on the 747-400. I know RAL codes are available for the 737 greys but I had to get the 747-400 browns matched by taking panels to a DIY store to get them to match some pots of paint.

I prefer the brown, mostly because I loved flying the 74/75/76 and the grey reminds me how miserable life was in the 73.

fox niner 28th Sep 2019 08:25

Thanks all,

I would expect that a boeing study for the “best” cockpit color would have a certain outcome. (whatever it is)
As a result, ALL planes built thereafter would have “that” color. But that is not the case. Boeing has been alternating their choice back and forth. So now I ended up flying 2 different colors on one type rating. (777/787)

oceancrosser 28th Sep 2019 20:57


Originally Posted by pattern_is_full (Post 10581289)
Ennnhhh - I see a lot of 737s with brown cockpits. Seems to depend on age/era.

As a guess, the introduction of larger and more colorful displays has made a dark gray as "background" preferable (according to some trickcyclist or other). There are lots of people making their living analyzing environmental color and human performance. I think it was a big deal starting with the first nuclear subs - pinks and yellows and such to enliven long times at sea.

NASA's take (skip to page 110 (pdf. pg 113) for the Conclusions - the rest is a review of previous studies) - hue doesn't matter much, but general contrasts of color/tone do have not-fully-definable effects. Related to long-term exposure for space flight.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/c...9890006161.pdf

Personally, I find Airbus pale blue-gray nice, as well as lighter brown/beige. Night-lighting may interact with colors, though.

737s with brown cockpits? You sure? Which operator?

clark y 29th Sep 2019 09:32

Luckily the major manufacturers don’t use vivid colours. Have flown some light aircraft with horrible interior colours from the 1970s from Cessna and Piper.
Red, blue, green, yellow to name four.


stilton 29th Sep 2019 11:00

Not sure what they were thinking with the puke green cockpits in our MD80’s when I flew that thing


It always looked bad or worse.


I agree on the brown, I liked it on the 75/67, don’t understand why Boeing went back to grey on the 787

pattern_is_full 29th Sep 2019 19:47


Originally Posted by oceancrosser (Post 10581845)


737s with brown cockpits? You sure? Which operator?

Duuuurr - upon further review, all the images of "brown" 737 panels I thought I saw were made under "orange" cockpit floodlighting. :\

(I did at least mention that lighting can interact with the paint color!)

RandomPerson8008 30th Sep 2019 22:28

My understanding is that brown was chosen after research done on "calming" colors, or colors that some studies had shown would be of slight benefit to mental states in managing emergencies. I do not remember the source but I read it in a college CRM text at some point.

ManaAdaSystem 1st Oct 2019 18:14


Originally Posted by stilton (Post 10582148)
Not sure what they were thinking with the puke green cockpits in our MD80’s when I flew that thing


It always looked bad or worse.


I agree on the brown, I liked it on the 75/67, don’t understand why Boeing went back to grey on the 787

Happiness is a pink MD80 cockpit!

CV880 1st Oct 2019 23:26

Lockheed gave customers 3 choices on the L1011. Grey, blue or olive green.

stilton 3rd Oct 2019 06:35


Originally Posted by CV880 (Post 10584424)
Lockheed gave customers 3 choices on the L1011. Grey, blue or olive green.


I’ve seen pictures of the gray which only complements one of the finest cockpits in the
industry, blue looks a little unusual, never seen green


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