Germanwings: Flight Deck Visit
Pilots are loneley, at least sometimes. During the flight, the door to the flight deck has to be locked and after the flight everybody rushes out to pick up their luggage.
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Flightdeck
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Since I had the opportunity to be on Germanwings flight 229 from Stockholm-Arlanda to Cologne-Bonn yesterday, I just asked the flight attendants whether it was possible to take a picture of the flight deck (of course after touch-down). "Sure" they said, I just had to wait a bit until the majority of the passengers had left the plane. "It's ok, you can go in now", said one of flight attendants finally to me.
Eventually, I made my way into the cockpit and asked the pilots "Hello, can I take a picture?". "Sure, also two if you like!" replied the pilot. So I did. I also told him that it was a nice flight and he answered "I like to hear that, you are welcome!" He seemed to be really happy about that positive feedback. Already during the flight he had made two (normal is only one) announcements.
So I took the following pictures and I was really surprised how real the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 actually is. I installed an additional Airbus A 319 (which was the one I flew with yesterday, too) in the programme and the real flight deck indeed matches the one from the computer. Although being no aviation expert, I could recognize the most important parts.
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Autopilot
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This part is the Autopilot. As you can see, the selected heading was 310°, the altitude 5000 feet and the vertical speed -100 feet per minute.
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Landing Gear
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This part controls the landing gear. There is a lever for extending and retracting the landing gear. The three green buttons above indicate that the landing gear is currently extracted. Below these three buttons are another three buttons, which set the intensity of the automatic brake (low, medium, max).
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Flaps and Speed Brakes
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The lever on the right controls the flaps, the one on the left the speed brakes. The switch between "ENG 1" and "ENG 2" starts the engines.
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Throttles
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These throttles regulate the power of the engines. The "black and white discs" are the pitch trim wheels. Above the throttles, left and right, is the "MCDU", the multifunction control display unit, a kind of flight computer.
If you want to really know all the details, have a look at this excellent page. It explains nearly everything. Thanks again to Germanwings, they really offer an excellent service. I'm sure this was not my last flight with them (next one is next Tuesday :-) ).