Cockpit

The F-22's cockpit represents a revolution over current "pilot offices," as it is designed to let the pilot operate as a tactician, not a sensor operator. Humans are good at differentiating information, but they are poor integrators. The F-22 cockpit lets the pilot do what humans do best and it fully utilizes the power of the computer to do what it does best While that change to tactician is the biggest advance the F-22's cockpit has over current fighter cockpits, there are also several other distinctive features.

The F-22's cockpit is one of the very first "all-glass" cockpits for tactical fighters - there are no traditional round dial, standby or dedicated gauges. It accommodates the largest range of pilots (the central 99 percent of the Air Force pilot population) of any tactical aircraft. It is the first baseline "night vision goggle" compatible cockpit, and it has designed-in growth capability for helmet-mounted systems. The canopy is the largest piece of polycarbonate formed in the world with the largest Zone 1 (highest quality) optics for compatibility with helmet-mounted systems. While functionality is critical, the F-22's cockpit design also ensures pilot safety with an improved version of the proven ACES II ejection seat and a new pilot personal equipment and life support ensemble.

Pilot-aircraft integration

The GEC-built "head-up display" offers a wide field of view (30 degrees horizontally by 25 degrees vertically) and serves as a primary flight instrument for the pilot. The F-22's head-up display is approximately 4.5 inches tall and uses standardized symbolization developed by the Air Force Instrument Flight Center. It does not present information in color, but the tactical symbol set is the same that is used on the F-22's head down displays.
During F-22 canopy birdstrike tests, it was found that the head-up display combiner glass would shatter the canopy. To solve this problem, the F-22 head-up display will have a rubber buffer strip on it that will effectively shield the polycarbonate of the canopy when it flexes during a birdstrike from hitting the optical glass in the head-up display and shattering. Design is also underway for a head-up display that will collapse during a birdstrike, but would remain upright under all other conditions. Additionally, the team is investigating the possibility of having the head-up display combiner glass laminated similar to household safety glass to preclude flying glass in the cockpit following birdstrike.

True integration

The integrated control panel is the primary means for manual pilot data entry for communications, navigation, and autopilot data. Located under the glareshield and head-up display in center top of the instrument panel, this keypad entry system also has some double-click functions, much like a computer mouse for rapid pilot access/use. There are six liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in the cockpit. These present information in full color and are fully readable in direct sunlight. LCDs offer lower weight and less size than the cathode ray tube (CRT) displays used in most current aircraft. The lower power requirements also provide a reliability improvement over CRTs. The two up-front displays measure 3-by-4 inches in size and are located to the left and right of the integrated control panel. The up-front displays are used to display Integrated Caution/Advisory/Warning data, communications/navigation/identification data and serve as the stand-by flight instrumentation group and fuel quantity indicator. A total of 12 individual warning messages can appear at one time on the up-front display and additional ones can appear on sub-pages of the display.

Nontraditional

Two aspects of the integrated warning display differentiate it from a traditional warning light panels. First, all integrated warning system fault messages are filtered to eliminate extraneous messages and tell the pilot specifically and succinctly what the problem is. The second is the electronic checklist. When an integrated warning system message occurs, the pilot depresses the checklist push button (called a bezel button) on the bottom of the up-front display and the associated checklist appears on the left hand secondary multifunction display. This function also provides access to non-emergency checklists for display to the pilot. In addition to the visual warning on the display, the aircraft has an audio system that alerts the pilot. A caution is indicated only by the word "caution," while a warning is announced with the specific problem - that is, "Warning. Engine Failure." The stand-by flight group is always in operation and, although it is presented on an LCD display, it shows the basic information (such as an artificial horizon) the pilot needs to fly the aircraft. The stand-by flight group is tied to the last source of power in the aircraft, so if everything else fails, the pilot will still be able to fly the aircraft.

God's-eye view

The primary multifunction display is a 8-by-8 inch color display that is located in the middle of the instrument panel. It is the pilot's principal display for aircraft navigation (including showing waypoints and route of flight) and "situation assessment" or a "God's-eye view" of the entire environment around (above, below, both sides, front and back) the aircraft. Three secondary multifunction displays are all 6.25-by-6.25 inches and two of them are located on either side of the primary multifunction display, on the instrument panel with the third between the pilot's knees. These are used for displaying tactical (both offensive and defensive) information as well as non-tactical information (such as checklists, subsystem status, engine thrust output, and stores management).

Cockpit display symbols

The tactical information shown on the displays is all intuitive to pilots, allowing them to understand the situation around him by glancing at the screen. Enemy aircraft are shown as red triangles, friendly aircraft are green circles, unknown aircraft are shown as yellow squares and wingmen are shown as blue F-22s. Surface-to-air missile sites are represented by pentagons (along with an indication of exactly what type missile it is) and its lethal range. In addition to shape and color, the symbols are further refined. A filled-in triangle means that the pilot has a missile firing-quality solution against the target, while an open triangle is not a firing-quality solution. The pilot has a cursor on each screen, and he can ask the aircraft's avionics system to retrieve more information. The system can determine to a 98-percent probability the target's type of aircraft. If the system can't make an identification to that degree, the aircraft is shown as an unknown. Likewise, one of the original objectives for the F-22 was to increase the percentage of fighter pilots who make "kills."

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Networking

The Inter/Intra Flight Data Link is one of the powerful tools that make all F-22s more capable. Each F-22 can be linked together to trade information without radio calls with each F-22s in a flight or between flight. Each pilot is then free to operate more autonomously because, for example, the leader can tell at a glance what his wing man's fuel state is, weapons remaining and even the enemy aircraft targeted. Classical tactics based on visual "tally" (visual identification) and violent formation maneuvers that reduce the wing man to "hanging on" may have to be rethought in light of such capabilities.

Hands-on throttle and stick

The F-22 features a side-stick controller (like an F-16) and two throttles that are the aircraft's primary flight controls. The GEC-built stick is located on the right console and there is a swing-out, adjustable arm rest. The stick is force sensitive and has a throw of only about one-quarter of an inch. The throttles are located on the left console. Both the stick and the throttles are high-use controls during air combat. To support pilot functional requirements, the grips include buttons and switches (that are both shape and texture coded) to control more than 60 different time-critical functions. These buttons are used for controlling the offensive (weapons targeting and release) and defensive systems (although some, like chaff and flares, can operate both automatically and manually) as well as display management.

Accommodations

Previous fighter cockpits were sized to accommodate the fifth percentile to 95th percentile pilots (a range of only 90 percent . The F-22 cockpit is sized to accommodate the 0.5 percentile to 99.5 percentile pilots (the body size of the central 99 percent of the Air Force pilot population) This represents the largest range of pilots accommodated by any tactical aircraft now in service. The rudder pedals are adjustable. The pilot has 15-degree over-the-nose visibility and excellent over-the-side and aft visibility as well.

Lighting

The cockpit interior lighting is fully night vision goggle compatible, as is the exterior lighting. The cockpit panels feature extended life, self-balancing, electroluminescent edge-lit panels with an integral life-limiting circuit that runs the lights at the correct power setting throughout their life. It starts at one-half power and gradually increases the power output to insure consistent panel light intensity over time. As a result, the cockpit always presents a well-balanced lighting system to the pilot (there is not a mottled look in the cockpit). The panels produce low amounts of heat and power and are very reliable. The aircraft also has integral position and anti-collision lights (including strobes) on the wings. The low voltage electroluminescent formation lights are located at critical positions for night flight operations on the aircraft (on the forward fuselage (both sides) under the chine, on the tip of the upper left and right wings, and on the outside of both vertical stabilizers. There are similar air refueling lights on the butterfly doors that cover the air refueling receptacle.

Canopy

The F-22's canopy is approximately 140 inches long, 45 inches wide, 27 inches tall and weighs approximately
360 pounds. It is a rotate/translate design, which means that it comes down, slides forward and locks in place with pins. It is a much more complex piece of equipment than it would appear to be.
The F-22 canopy's transparency (made by Sierracin) features the largest piece of monolithic polycarbonate material being formed today. It has no canopy bow and offers the pilot superior optics (Zone 1 quality) throughout (not just in the area near the HUD) and it offers the requisite stealth features. The canopy is resistant to chemical/biological and environmental agents, and has been successfully tested to withstand the impact of a four-pound bird at 350 knots. It also protects the pilot from lightning strikes.
The 3/4-inch polycarbonate transparency is actually made of two 3/8-inch thick sheets that are heated and fusion bonded (the sheets actually meld to become a single-piece article) and then drape forged. The F-16's canopy, for comparison, is made up of laminated sheets. A laminated canopy generally offers better birdstrike protection and because of the lower altitude where the F-16 operates, this is an advantage. However, lamination also adds weight as well as reduced optics.
There is no chance of a post-ejection canopy-seat-pilot collision as the canopy (with frame) weighs slightly more on one side than the other. When the canopy is jettisoned, the weight differential is enough to make it slice nearly 90 degrees to the right as it clears the aircraft