BOEING 707 circa 1970 panel - Basic Flight Instruments
The Airspeed and Mach Indicators
This airspeed indicator includes a digital Mach readout, which is activated above Mach 0.4. The "V" icon above
the ASI opens a popup window displaying V-speeds for take-off and landing.
The airspeed
indicator contains a speed bug which may be useful as a reference when
taking off or landing. However, the only place on the panel where the
speed bug has an effect is the Fast/Slow gauge on the ADI - the 707 is not
equipped with an autothrottle.
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The Altimeter This panel's altimeter has a digital reading of the entire altitude, by means of rotating drums. The gauge also displays its pressure setting by means of numeric drum readouts, in both imperial and metric units. |
The Radio Altimeter This instrument indicates the aircraft's height above the ground, and is useful for judging the approach to the ground when landing. The instrument reads as far as 2,500 ft, and contains an adjustable Decision Height bug - when the decision height is reached, the DH light on the ADI will come on momentarily. |
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The RMI This instrument, located below the Airspeed Indicator, has two switches, permitting the needles to be switched between pointing to the VOR, or the ADF. |
The DME Below the Vertical Speed Indicator, there is a readout for the distance to DME 2 (the DME 1 readout is on the HSI). |
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The Clock The 707 is fitted with an analogue clock with hour, minute and second hands. To adjust the clock, there is a knob at the lower right which increments/decrements by 1 minute per click. When passing through zero, the hours change accordingly, as with a real analogue clock. However, to speed up setting time, there is an extra knob at the lower left which adjusts hours directly. Note the small inset clock above the main clock - this reads Zulu Time. |
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Altitude Alerter
The altitude alerter is used as a reminder of assigned flight level. On approaching the selected altitude, a tone sounds and a light comes on on the altimeters when 700 feet away. The light also comes on (and the tone sounds) if deviating more than 300 feet from the selected altitude. The Altitude Alerter is not an automatic altitude capture function - one must manually level off when reaching an assigned altitude! | .![]() |
The ADI
This ADI layout was used on most US-built airliners from the mid-60s up until the 1980s, when EFIS computer displays began to take over. In addition to the attitude indicator, the ADI contains the following components:
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The presentation of various types of information in one location makes the ADI helpful when carrying out an instrument approach and landing.
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The HSI The HSI has the standard layout for pre-EFIS jet aircraft. Note the setting knobs on the instrument - the left one sets the OBS course, while the right one sets the target heading for the autopilot (newer aircraft models have these controls in the autopilot on the glareshield). The instrument also has numeric readouts for the current OBS course, and DME 1. |