Cockpit

This article is about the flight deck of an aircraft. For other uses, see Cockpit (disambiguation).
Cockpit of an Airbus A319 during landing
Cockpit of an IndiGo A320

A cockpit or flight deck[1] is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle.

Cockpit of an Antonov An-124
Cockpit of an A380. Most Airbus cockpits are glass cockpits featuring fly-by-wire technology.
Robin DR400
1936 de Havilland Hornet Moth. Note the bifurcated split stick control column.
View of a cockpit seen from outside of a British Airways Boeing 747-400

The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that enable the pilot to fly the aircraft. In most airliners, a door separates the cockpit from the aircraft cabin. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, all major airlines fortified their cockpits against access by hijackers.

  1. ^ Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 133. ISBN 9780850451634.