

NASA researches windowless cockpits; future businessjets might employ - DabAsteroid
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/FA18101008.xml&headline=Blind%20Aft-Cockpit%20F-18%20Points%20To%20Biz%20Jet

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SlowOnTheUptake
BSoD

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DabAsteroid
Indeed.

<http://images.google.com/images?q=aircraft+birdstrike>

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DabAsteroid
Article excerpt:

 _Testing is under way of an F-18 with a covered aft cockpit to help prove
that a camera-equipped aircraft with no forward view windows could be a viable
option for a future supersonic business jet.

The external vision system tests involve Gulfstream Aerospace and are taking
place at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.,
using the agency’s F-18 systems research aircraft (SRA). The aircraft’s aft
cockpit canopy is shielded with only small cut-outs to represent side windows,
while the forward view is taken up with a a 22-inch high-definition (HD)
display. Gulfstream is exploring supersonic business jet configurations
affording little or no forward view.

The liquid crystal display, bolted in place over the glareshield, is being
used to display an image from an HD camera mounted behind the head-up display
in the front cockpit. A safety pilot flies in the front cockpit, ready to
assume control if the situation warrants, while the mission is flown from the
aft cockpit by a pilot using only instruments and the visual display on the
external vision system. ...

Five flights have taken place since mid-September, and the work is expected to
culminate with three night flights around the end of October._

