Originally Posted by
Hawaii50
You can thank SWA for that overhead. The 73NG could have had a 757 nose (much quieter) and 76-400 type avionics and systems.
I knew Southwest was responsible for the 1960s vintage overhead panel but I didn't know they did the same with the nose design. That's harder to forgive.
The overhead is a minor annoyance but the noise level in the cockpit is far and away the bigger drawback to the 737. The trips on Delta's 737s are sweet with all the Caribbean flying but its tempting to bid the Maddog or 767 just to save my hearing.
Its a wonder the SWA guys aren't all deaf by the end of their careers.