Hack for those dim A320 screens
 

For all those hard to see dim CRT flight displays on our ancient A320s I saw this hack on sky hub yesterday. Use your iPad camera to look at the screens... GENIUS! And possibly highly unauthorized?

Hopefully the cockpits are upgraded soon.

Lol! Someone actually posted that on Skynet? SMH, the sooner that thing gets shut down the better if you ask me.

They are. But it’s because the CRT’s aren’t made anymore, not because it’s a safety/usability issue. There are a few other upgrades that will go along with the CRT’s - supposedly including the WX radar. The problem with installing LCD screens is the analog screen cables will either need a converter (one vendor has that built into the screen), or a rewire of the cockpit.

The timeline is still pre-decisional. It may be as fast as 5 ships per month, but it will still take years to retrofit them all.

I was flying a G4 when they went from "OLD" CRT's to LCD's and their solution was to put the LCD on the front of a long slide in empty box with lead weight at the other end and a plug so the whole new "LCD" slid right into the old CRT slot and with the dead weight at the end even didn't require a weight and balance change.

They woulda made for amazing smuggling spaces as well if that was what you were trying to do.

It absolutely IS a safety/usability issue. That's the whole point of the hack. Anyone who has flown our old CRT display A320s on a bright sunny day trying to maneuver around thunderstorms or perhaps respond to a TA/RA knows this is a problem. You look outside at the white clouds or search for traffic and then when you come back inside you can't see a thing on the PFD or ND because they are too dim. I've heard, anecdotally, maintenance has been restricting our ability to brighten the display by dimming them internally to preserve them because, as you say, they don't make them anymore and so it's become a parts issue. But make no mistake, it is most definitely a usability issue and maybe even a safety issue as well. IMO.

Oh, I totally, completely agree with you. I was just stating the reason the company is finally doing something about it was parts availability, not because they see it as a problem otherwise.

Maybe poorly worded on my part. I could have also added a scarcasm emoji…

I have also seen the CRTs getting written up more often. I think the screens are getting worse, and with multiple write-ups planes are getting grounded. The company’s hand is getting forced.

Wow, I never flew a bus but the fact that there's a hack proves there's a problem.

Getting grounded? I flew one the other day and let me paraphrase the write-up I saw from the previous crew:

"All PFD/ND displays extremely dim. Dangerously dim. Cannot see the screens in daylight. We had to respond to an RA and couldn't see the screen. DANGEROUS!"
"Performed ops check per blah blah blah, no discrepancies noted, okay for service."

... So I doubt any of them are grounded. Although maybe we should refuse the jet when we step to one with a previous writeup like that.