Instrument Panel Switch Placement

[N941WR]

In the thread on Paul Dye's RV-8 Cockpit Tour, Paul mentioned he arranged his switches by function. This got me thinking as I had planed on arranging mine by "Phase of Flight".

I've been struggling with this and thought I would ask for input from the RV Gang before I drill the first switch hole. My -9 will be D/N VFR only, so this greatly reduced the number of switches required.

As of Saturday night my panel looked like this.

From left to right the switches will be:
Master, Left mag, Right Mag, Starter, Avionics Master, Strobes, Position lights, [Some other switches, dimmers, etc. not sure what.], Taxi light, Landing light, Fuel Pump, Carb Heat, Throttle, Mixture, Flaps.

Pull type circuit breakers will go on the right sub panel.

I am thinking of adding a clip from a clip board between the D100 and radio stack to hold sectionals and check lists.

Ok gang, what are your thoughts on this layout?

[deene]

A few opinions here based on flying/owning a number of homebuilts and training a lot of pilots in a wide variety of planes:

Worst case is a single row of all switches and each switch is of same type. I used this approach in my BD4 and it took many hours before I could find any by quick feel/glance other than end ones.

"Grouping" of switches by function is good, spacing between groups is even better (quick glance to find group and small number of choices in group to chose from). Place seldom used switches/groups out of critical field of view unless lots of space available. Switch guards are often overlooked...hitting a wrong switch in heavy turbulence can happen like when I hit the master accidently in turbulence, alternator OV'd and blew my DME.

Color is good (red: important or emergency, yellow/blue: lites, etc).

Annunciator lites/panels good for warning/status. I lost oil pressure and didn't notice immediately since guage was on other side of panel and didn't have a warning lite, got back to airport, but trashed the newly overhauled engine's bearings...

Any standard flight instruments should be located approximately in std 6-pack layout (noticed your altimeter is below A/S, would be better at right of GRT EFIS...). This is very important when others fly or buy you ship. Also helps when you fly or take training in other ships.

A recent Kitplanes articles covers this area very well...and as you noted, Paul Dye's RV8 panel layout is worthy of study. His is very well done and reflects some real thought and design. Of course, working at NASA has influenced his choices too.

This all of course is one man's opinion, YMMV.

Deene
CFII, MEI, CFIG
Tech Counselor, Flight Advisor

[N941WR]

Deene,

Thanks for the comments, that is the type of stuff I'm looking for.

Regarding the placement of the altimeter, this is strictly a backup instrument. The Dynon D100 will have the primary alt indicator, thus the placement of the backup unit.

Some things I didn't point out in my original post, the Dynon EMS-D10 on the right side will be able to display the full EFIS info for the passenger/instructor/wife/whomever.

The Dynon EFIS on the left will display out of bounds conditions on the panel. Such as High temp, low oil pressure, etc. Thus, no need for warning lights.

One exception to the warning light, I will put a "fuel pump on" light above the EFIS. That will be pre-takeoff check list item and a good reminder if I didn't turn the pump on or left it on after takeoff.

[Ironflight]

I think there are so many ways to lay things out that in the end, you'll have something that works for you. I can make one suggestion that will quickly help you figure out if it is "right" or not. Trying writing your normal operations checklists - Pre-start, Start, Taxi, Pre-Take-Off, etc.... Then run through them with your switch positions and see how well orchestrated the cockpit is.

I designed both my checklists and switch postions so that I go across the cockpit in a continuous fashion, not jumping from spot to spot. I have done this with airplanes that are already designed as well - re-written the checklists (where you can), so that you can go around the cockpit in an orderly fashion. If you do it that way, you might well find out your optimum places to put switches. You'll also find that after awhile, the cockpit itself becomes your checklist in a way.

Have fun - this is one of the neatest part of homebuilding for me (cockpit design)!

Paul