Boeing 737 Autopilot Panel

[Beverly Zielonko]

Ikeep seeing this (more here and here) unit (maybe solely) in Boeing test airplane cockpits above the autopilot panel. Can someone tell me what is this and what the purpose of this big unit? Based on this video the center display tells you the time (UTC?) but cannot figure out the purpose of the 2 side displays. Not to mention having a clock in the cockpit does not require a huge unit like this I assume even in aircraft safety terms with being spark proof...).

This is not an integrated unit. It was likely assembled by Boeing. The center display is an airborne IRIG precision time display made by the Datum Corporation, (look at the logo bottom left of the display) which merged with Symmetricom in 2002 so references are scarce. Here is a similar but different model which has a brief description of capability.

IRIG is used to communicate timecodes from precision references such as atomic clocks, in this case as transmitted by GPS satellites. The devices on either side are not marked, but they would be used by each test pilot to record timestamps as they begin and complete specific actions in their test plan. 'Address' on the devices would be used to specify the location of each timestamp and likely autoincrements after each use.

This is an educated guess. It is my assumption that it is a quick-access flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, or both. I believe this because of the two units that flank the clock. As @ocirocir stated in their comment, the extremely precise clock is for timing of events. Test pilots and flight engineers keep close documentation upon what happens during flight. With today's technology, it would stand to reason that some of this documentation could and should be done digitally, either as primary record or to supplement and cross-verify with the test flight crew.

With the Flight Panels Autopilot Panel for the Kuro, Horizon and Asobo 787 Dreamliner, you can manage your aircraft's autopilot systems using the physical buttons, LCD touchscreen and rotary dials on your Stream Deck Plus (+) to create a truly immersive experience.

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The glareshield panel, commonly referred to as the MCP, contains not only the Mode Control Panel, but also the master caution lights & annunciations, fire warning lights and, on the NG's, the EFIS control panels. Whilst the MCP has evolved with the autopilot, the master caution and fire warning lights have remained unchanged through to the present day which is testimony to its good initial design.

In the later production 727's the fire switches were moved down to the centre console leaving more room for autopilot & flight director panels and the glareshield panel became identical to the 737-200.

This was the original MCP as fitted to the -100/-200's with the Sperry SP-77 autopilot. They comprised three panels, the autopilot (centre) and one for each flight director (sides). All three were independent so any mode to be used with the autopilot (eg ALT HOLD or VOR/LOC) had to be selected three times. HDG SEL and VOR/LOC could be coupled to the autopilot but would only be driven by the heading bug set on the Captains compass and the course set on the Captains HSI.

The SP-77 autopilot consisted of a Pitch Control Computer and a Roll Computer. For a dual-channel configuration, there were two Pitch Computers. Airplanes with this configuration had separate Flight Director controllers for the FD-108, FD-109, or FD-110 system, whichever was installed. The FD controllers were either built into the ADIs and HSIs, or were of various shapes and sizes with different combinations of switches and position nomenclatures. Modes available were GA, OFF, HDG, VOR LOC, AUTO APP & MAN GS, which was mainly used for capturing the glideslope from above!. There is also a PITCH CMD knob which has now become vertical speed.

The centre panel is for autopilot selections and has two paddles to engage/disengage the ailerons and elevators "AIL" & "ELEV" for roll and pitch modes and could be engaged separately or together. The LH knob has the roll modes of HDG, VOR LOC, AUTO APP & MAN G/S and has a HDG OFF / HDG SEL switch to its right (see para 1). The RH knob has pitch modes of ALT HOLD or TURB. The TURB mode was controlled by the vertical gyro to allow smoother movements to regain altitude during turbulence. Some also had an ALT SEL mode. The small knob at the top, left of centre labelled "A", "B", "AB", is the hydraulic system selector source for the autopilot.

Virtually none of the early 737-1/200's had ALT Select or Speed Select and were flown most of the time in CWS (Control Wheel Steering) - it was used like a sort of sophisticated "wing leveller". The A/P was then "Flown" via the normal controls.

This asymmetric looking version of the MCP, was the first to have heading and course windows. Although everything looks biased to the LHS it is more First Officer friendly because he can set a heading (centre window) or course (the two outside windows) on this panel rather than having to rely on what the Captain sets on his compass or HSI. The usual F/D MODE SEL, ALT HOLD & PITCH CMD controls are all in this single panel and are repeated to both the Capt's and F/O's F/D's. The autopilot panel is displaced to the right.

The basic Honeywell (formerly Sperry) MCP is virtually unchanged from the 200ADVs but the EFIS control panels have been moved into the glareshield from the aft electronics panel in a similar arrangement to the 747-400.

From line number 1278 onwards (Feb 2003) the Rockwell Collins enhanced MCP was introduced. This was designed to operate with the new Collins enhanced digital flight control system with integrates the autothrottle computer and Flight Control Computer (FCC) to enable Cat IIIb autoland. Note the Cat IIIb EDFCS has a rudder servo and can perform an engine out autoland.

There are Boeings comments upon how the new MCP was designed: "Collins provided a preliminary MCP design to Boeing in 2000 for Boeing pilots and airline pilots to evaluate in the simulator and comment on. Based upon those comments, a revised MCP was installed on a test 737NG in November 2001. Boeing test pilots evaluated that design for approximately 4 months. Based upon that evaluation, changes were made in the tactile, lighting and thermal characteristics to increase the similarity of the Collins and Honeywell MCPs. The goal during this evaluation was to make the Collins MCP operationally transparent to the flight crew when compared with the Honeywell MCP. Recent certification and service-ready testing has indicated that the latest Collins MCP has obtained a high level of crew transparency."

The FCC is the brains of the Digital Flight Control System (DFCS). Each FCC has a pair of single-core, 16-bit processors that run independently of each other, which reduces computing power but also keeps a faulty processor from taking down the entire system. There are two identical FCC's in each aircraft and although either one is capable of managing all of the DFCS functions, both are required for Cat III autoland and autopilot go-around operation.

Like any other computer, the FCC software is being improved (and debugged !) all the time. On the NG series you can find out which FCC and software update that your aircraft has through the MAINT pages of the FMC. In this example the aircraft has a Collins EDFCS with rudder channel and software update -140.Here is a list of known updates:

I use LeoBodnar boards for tiller and some switches and it works very smoothly. The same board you use to make a Saitek yoke smooth w/o dead spots, I highly recommend his solutions. And I had considered building an autopilot interface for these planes using bodnar boards and pots. But if the Saitek works then why not save a lot of effort. I can even see taking it apart and building a panel from the parts that looks like a Boeing or AB autopilot panel.

I mainly use the Multi Panel for making quick altitude, heading and speed adjustments as using these virtual buttons in the cockpit while flying I find very difficult, especially when using TrackIR and things are moving around. I tend not to use the buttons on the Multi-Panel to control the Autopilot modes, instead I click the buttons in the virtual cockpit. Not sure why, I just seem to prefer it that way. But the buttons do work if I want to use them that way. I never use the Flaps button or AutoThrottle switch on the Multi Panel - again, just personal preference (I tend to use the Saitek Throttle buttons to control flaps and speedbrake). The only slight issue I have is that I find selecting which "mode" (e.g. Alt, Hdg, Ias) I want to adjust using the rotary switch is a bit of a pain, so sometimes I'm adjusting the heading when I meant to adjust the Altitude, or vice-versa.

The switch panel I do use quite a bit for various lights and the radio panel also comes in useful if you're flying on VATSIM. Again, spinning the physical knobs to change the frequency is much easier for me than trying to control them in the virtual cockpit.

They're expensive things though for what they are. If they are $150 now (can't remember what I paid for mine) then $450 for all three is pretty close to the cost of a VRinsight panel which may replace all of them. When I get some more time I'll get back to making an MCP panel for myself using an Arduino and have separate rotary encoders for Hdg, Alt, IAS and V/S and have everything the way I want it.

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