Glass Cockpit

A glass cockpit is an aircraft flight deck that uses electronic display screens — typically LCDs or LEDs — to present flight information instead of traditional analog (round dial) instruments. The term "glass" refers to the display screens themselves.

A typical glass cockpit includes:

• PFD (Primary Flight Display): Shows attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, heading, and flight director/autopilot modes
• ND (Navigation Display): Shows the flight plan route, weather radar, terrain, traffic (TCAS), and waypoints
• EICAS/ECAM (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System): Displays engine parameters, system synoptics, and alerts/warnings

Glass cockpits offer significant advantages over traditional instruments: information integration (displaying multiple data sources on a single screen), decluttering (showing only relevant information for the current flight phase), trend indicators, moving maps, and the ability to display checklists and system diagrams electronically.

The first commercial glass cockpit was introduced on the Boeing 767 in 1982. Today, glass cockpits are standard on virtually all new aircraft from airliners to light general aviation.