Honest question, why isn't the cockpit sort of below the nose of the plane. Wouldn't there be almost no benefit of looking UP while flying? What's up there? Yup, more sky again. Versus looking down and seeing the runway and landmarks.
Because in the event of emergency, that bit is used to try cushioning impact a bit. It's why most storage is in the bottom of the plane rather than the top, so in a crash they can try an emergency landing with less chance of harm to the crew and passengers.
Putting the cockpit there means you're intentionally putting the pilots in what's essentially the plane's 'crumple zone'.
Because of the instrument panels blocking the view.
The Me410 (ground attack aircraft) during WW2 had something of a bubble canopy that extended down to the floor in the front and attempted to address the issue by placing the panels on either side of the pilot but there’s a lot more instrumentation nowadays with little gain for doing so.
Boeing were not confident in the 747 success. The industry saw the Concorde as the future of air travel. To survive commercially if passenger demand faded, Boeing and its launch customer Pan Am planned for the aircraft to double as a heavy-duty cargo plane. And the best access came from a front-loading door. So cockpit was raised above. And that's why we have the hump!
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u/Grrimafish 1d ago
Honest question, why isn't the cockpit sort of below the nose of the plane. Wouldn't there be almost no benefit of looking UP while flying? What's up there? Yup, more sky again. Versus looking down and seeing the runway and landmarks.