A fair question in my opinion...
Folks have been mentioned how it seems logical that no one crew member can
operate more than one HUD at a time. Therefore ships with more HUDs than
crew members seems to be a real design idiocy.
But consider the alternatives, one HUD per crew member, and control panels to
suppliment the total until the ships total CP's are accounted for.
It seems to me that it would be more logical to have a crew member monitor
a HUD that is twice it's normal size (ie. 2 HUDs) than one HUD plus a hundred
control panels! Doing so is more expensive, but saves space in a ship.
My experience in the air tells me it would be a LOT easier to look at one HUD
than monitor a slew of dials. (Ok so I never had a HUD in a Cessna 152, but
even monitoring the 12 or so gauges is a chore)
Thus a HUD twice standard size seems MUCH preferable. The rule in 101 vehicles
that one crew member can monitor TWELVE CUBIC METERS OF PANELS is truely a
nightmare!
Scott Kellogg