![]() ![]() With the glass cockpit 737 Classics, the modified 737-700s, and the ordered 737-800s, pilots will be on the same page as far as cockpit familiarity is concerned. To enable RNP on the old 737 “Classics”, in late 2008, Southwest Airlines awarded a $40M to General Electric to retrofit its entire fleet of 737-300s with twin 15.4-inch SDS-6000 glass displays. That change alone immediately netted us millions of dollars per month in fuel savings.” The airline embarked on training its near-6000 pilots on autothrottles, automation, vertical navigation, basic GPS approaches, and finally RNP. Quoting Chuck Magill, Vice President Flight Operations at Southwest, ” I remember hearing that Southwest Airlines would never use the autothrottle system. And its only automation that guarantees desired economy. This move was necessary, as Southwest wanted to transition to Required Navigation Performance (RNP). This was a move away from the airlines’ too old “round dial” cockpit philosophy, to modern glass cockpits with full access to available automation. Southwest got sensible in 2006 as far as automation is concerned, and started what it called the “The Automation Transformation”. GE's "Glass" solution for the "Analog" 737-300 of SW Unless Southwest decides otherwise, some of the newer 737-300s may still be around, and would Southwest want the 737MAX to be so identical to the -300s that the same crew members can switch seamlessly between all three generations of the 737? Southwest expects to take delivery in 2017, which could be 4-5 years from today. Today, with 12 days left for the Christmas of 2011, the bells started ringing with Southwest being announced as the launch customer for the 737MAX. So powerful was the influence of Southwest on Boeing. The LCD screens draw analogue instruments like on the 737 Classics. The 737NG, which first flew three years after the Boeing 777, still had the cluttered, and aesthetically unappealing overhead and throttle quadrant. And so, the autothrottles and associated primary functions, and the VNAV remained out of bounds for the flight deck crew. Yet, Southwest needed the commonality, now between the old 737 Originals, the mid aged 737 Classics ,and the brand new “Next Generation” airplanes. For an aircraft that first flew in 1997, the 737NG’s cockpit hadn’t changed much, save the larger LCD screens that replaced all analogue instrumentation. The efficiency surely did matter, but the flight deck advancements meant little to Southwest. Initially, Southwest was then interested in only one type: the Boeing 737-700, as an efficient and advanced replacement for the 737-300s. The story hardly changed when the Boeing 737 “Next Generation” was launched. And the overhead remained just as cluttered.Ģ 8" displays drawing analog instruments on a 737 NG Thrust and speed could not be automatically maintained as well. Auto throttle was disabled, and the good then new and promising FMS that was in the cockpit could not support automated vertical navigation thanks to an “inoperative” VNAV button on the glare shield mode control panel. Infact, Southwest had gone a bit too far in ensuring the commonality between the 737 Originals (-200) and the Classics (-300,-500) that it operated. The first 737 with electronic displays (EFIS) was MSN 23477, which first flew in 1986 (two years later), and served as VH-TAF with Australian Airlines. And yet, none of these betterments were passed on to the 737s. The overhead and pedestal of the 757 and 767 are aesthetically better, support automatic electric bus transfers, elevator trim without the noisy spinning trim wheel: just to name a few. Southwest wanted the 737-300 NON-EFIS version to satisfy the commonality with the 64 737-200s that it had operated. A NON-EFIS cockpit of one of SW's 737-300s. ![]()
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