Providing pilots with direct external visibility may not be possible or desireable in the next generation of aircraft. The drive to increase performance will result in highly swept, low drag forebody designs inconsistent with forward looking windows. Future tactical aircraft may have to enclose pilots in windowless cockpits in order to protect them from threats. Visibility as a design variable is not a new problem, but the solutions of the past have often been brute force approaches that impart significant weight penalties on vehicle design. This paper discusses the design and flight testing of an electronic visibility system concept developed by McDonnell Douglas that provides a low weight, high reliability, flexible alternative approach to providing pilots with external vision.

Date Published: 1 October 1990
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 1290, Helmet-Mounted Displays II, (1 October 1990); doi: 10.1117/12.20959

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1290:
Helmet-Mounted Displays II
Ronald J. Lewandowski, Editor(s)