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This reminds me of the Airbus concept. They follow what's called a "lights out" design for all of those buttons on the overhead panel. When things are set and w
by racingmars 6y ago
This reminds me of the Airbus concept. They follow what's called a "lights out" design for all of those buttons on the overhead panel. When things are set and working the way they should be for normal flight, there is no indication. Only if something is non-normal does the indication or button light up.
For example, buttons that should be "on" for flight only light up when the system they control is "off", and things like emergency overrides or backup systems that should be "off" normally have buttons that light up when they're "on".
It's an interesting concept. Obvious benefit is you can glance at the overhead panel and instead of having to consider the state of, say, 50 or more buttons, you can instantly see if everything is "normal" for flight. But the downside is that it's not as intuitive to answer the question "is system X turned on (or off)"...you have to look at the button, then know what's considered "normal" for that system, on or off, and determine if the lack or presence of indicator light means on or off. That said...the pilots know the plane well enough where it's not a problem.