Lighting of Aircraft Control Panels

Abstract

The lighting of aircraft cockpits has become increasingly important with the increasing complexity of the aircraft and the exacting demands now made upon the pilot. New methods of lighting have been developed using individual “pillar” lights and trans-illuminated panels. These methods have in part superseded the earlier methods using floodlighting with ultra-violet and mixtures of white and red light. Aircraft operators would like to carry the development still further and have built-in or “integral” lighting provided with the instruments. Some methods of achieving this are described but there are still problems to be solved before they are fully applicable. This is particularly so with panels consisting of a mixture of instruments, inscriptions, switches, knobs, etc. The application of the various methods to typical aircraft control panels is described and the basis for a lighting specification is suggested.