glass cockpits

Glass cockpits are aircraft flight decks where traditional analog instruments—dials, gauges, and mechanical displays—have been replaced by digital screens showing flight data electronically.

The term references the glass of the LCD or LED displays that dominate the instrument panel.

First introduced in commercial aviation in the 1980s, glass cockpits are now standard in most new aircraft, from airliners to general aviation planes, offering pilots integrated information displays, reduced workload, and improved situational awareness.