Does anyone know how a 707 pilot would light a cockpit at night for takeoff, cruise and landing? For example, the light override on the overhead console turns on a white light hidden by the glare sheild. Would that be used in flight or does that damage night vision? Would they use the Dome Red in flight? Would they turn off all the lights once in cruise (outside of the gauges)? Was there a "best practice"?

TopofDescent,

Lighting in a cockpit is always a personal thing. Some pilots would fly in a very dark cockpit, others would make it a bit brighter.
Here are a few examples I made using the CS-707...


This is an example of a very dark cockpit:
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/5277/707pitnight.jpg

Here is a slightly brighter version:
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7292/707pitnight2.jpg

This is more like it would be at cruise altitude. The red flood could be adjusted to suit. None of the new planes use red cockpit light.
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/2678/707pitnight3.jpg

Hope this helps...  ;)

Lou


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For taking off and landing at night, mine looks like the first pic. Once I am cleaned up and climbing, I switch on the White Dome light (unless I want or need to see out of the windows better) OR on the Taxiway, I usually use the Red Dome light because I get less window reflection (it seems to).

LOU is on the mark, night lighting is a personal thing to a degree but some aeroplanes had better lights than others. Me, I liked it dark and put on the overhead or map light to read a map or chart when required. I once flew with an old crusty captain who liked it all up and as bright as you could get it, used to drive me crazy but I appreciated his technique when operating in bad weather which we used to do at low level doing maritime patrol and the radar is painting red and purple, when you down at 500ft over the ocean on a dark and stormy night going this way and that as the radar controllers up the back vector you onto a ship,you wanted to see everything and very quickly when the annunciator panel lit up with a red fault in driving rain and crap turbulence and I used this technique in these sort of conditions but on the cruise home at flight levels still liked it dark and quiet.

Hey guys, thanks for the insight!! Double thanks to Lou for the trouble he took making the screen shots.
All the best,
Kirt

Your request is valid because there are very few pictures of real 707 cockpits at night. Here one of the few, and not necessary to say, flightsim cockpit lightning is ages from reality.

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747-100/200 series?

expat,

It sure looks like a 747 to me too.

Lou  :o

With me it's medium bright with takeoff/landing but otherwise dome's always on.

Night lighting from the CAC 707 DVD, orange-ish color:


http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7421/vlcsnap2011092717h05m33.png

This is more as I remember the lighting. Your picture, just adjusted for color.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7424/707night.jpg

Lou

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Red lighting was used until recently because it does not effect the cones in the eyes like white lighting would. Therefore, vision outside for takeoff and landings is better.

However, development of illumination systems that do not use filament sources allow use of blue-white or green tinted lighting, which is more natural.

I recall the spare "peanut bulb" compartment in every early Navy jet I flew, and having to change a few of these "eyebrow" type bulbs in flight. A real nuisance!!

The worst kind of lighting system for cockpits........LIGHTNING.