the.com/cockpit
the tiny throne where one calm person decides whether physics gets a vote today
means The compartment where the pilot or driver sits to control an aircraft, racing car, or small boat.
from Literally a pit for cockfights — a small enclosed arena where roosters battled, dating to the 16th century. The cramped, blood-stirring sense of a tight space packed with action spread outward: sailors used it for the area below deck where the wounded were tended and junior officers berthed, and by the early 20th century aviators borrowed it for the snug spot where the pilot fought the air.
- origin
- named for the bloody pits where roosters fought
- sterile rule
- no chit-chat allowed below 10,000 feet
- black box
- actually bright orange, for easier wreckage hunting
- two pilots
- often eat different meals to avoid shared poisoning
- glass cockpit
- screens replaced the old dial-covered dashboards
boeing 747 cockpit — flight deck of the jumbo jet with 2 pilots and flight engineer stations, used since 1969
f-16 fighting falcon cockpit — single-seat fighter jet cockpit with heads-up display, used by 27+ air forces worldwide
airbus a380 cockpit — flight deck of world's largest passenger airliner with glass cockpit avionics, entered service 2007