Way off Topic!!!!! (but getting closer)

[Jimen Ching]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2001, Roderick A Gammon wrote:
>And for aircraft design, I have always wondered why the pilots don't enter
>from a door separate from everyone else, so that to take the cockpit one has
>to go outside the airplane.  My relatives that are Boeing engineers never
>had a good answer to that.

Well, I can think of a few:

1.  The cockpit would require its own restroom if there was no access to
the rest of the plane from the cockpit.

2.  If something were to happen to the pilots, i.e. they ate something bad
and passed out, no one could get access to the cockpit to help them or fly
the plane to safety.

3.  If the cockpit became dangerous to humans, i.e. a fire accidentally
started, the pilots are doomed.

These are just some examples from the top of my head.  I am sure if you
asked the engineer that designed the cockpit, he/she can give more good
answers.

--jc
--
Jimen Ching (WH6BRR)      jching at flex.com     wh6brr at uhm.ampr.org