25

In this photograph of the Airbus A830 flight-deck there are two large "lumps" sticking up and out from the centre console, next to the engine thrust levers and flight-computer keypads:

enter image description here

I think they're just meant to be wrist-support for when pressing the keypad keys, but it seems odd to single-out that part of the flight-controls in particular for wrist-support. The lumps also seem rather tall to be used comfortably for extended periods (and I assume that's what the pull-out keyboards in the trays are for, so why bother having secondary keyboards down there in the first place?) - and it also hinders access to the 'inner' keys closer to the engine controls.

Dai
  • 1,050
  • 1
  • 9
  • 13

1 Answers1

36

They are a different design of computer mouse:

computer mouse

As far as I can tell, the front disk is a track pad and the model in your picture has the mouse buttons on the front instead of the sides:

enter image description here

Dai
  • 1,050
  • 1
  • 9
  • 13
Unique Worldline
  • 476
  • 4
  • 5
  • Can you provide a link to the manufacturer's website or other current source? – Dai Dec 17 '16 at 15:39
  • 5
    I recently saw a video about the last flight of Jürgen "J.R." Raps who was chief pilot (I don't know the proper term) at Lufthansa. He explained some of the equipement of an A380, one of which was the mouse. "The first thing you see are the numerous screens and two “palm stones” that resemble ostrich eggs – which turn out to be computer mice especially designed for pilots. They make it possible to move the cursor properly even when there is turbulence." (http://pilotseye.tv/en/route/a380-san-francisco-the-final-flights-of-jr-juergen-raps/) – PerlDuck Dec 17 '16 at 18:04
  • 2
    Here Jürgen Raps explains the controls of an A380. Jump to 3:40 to see the mouse in action. – PerlDuck Dec 17 '16 at 18:29
  • The picture is from this company's website: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en – Unique Worldline Dec 17 '16 at 20:28
  • I wonder if I can get a mouse like this for my desktop computer! – Dai Dec 20 '16 at 13:10
  • How do the mice work? I can't tell from the photos if they're trackballs or capacitative trackpads - or something else. – Dai Jun 29 '17 at 23:12
  • I think they are trackpads in this case. However, I have been in a Pilatus PC-12 that had a trackball design. – Unique Worldline Jun 29 '17 at 23:14