An Electronic Flight Instrument System, universally known by its abbreviation EFIS, is the digital display technology that replaced traditional analog gauges in modern aircraft cockpits. Where older aircraft used a panel full of individual mechanical instruments — each with its own needle, dial, and failure mode — EFIS consolidates critical flight data onto integrated digital screens that present altitude, airspeed, attitude, navigation, weather, and systems information in a single unified interface. The result is a cockpit that gives pilots more information, more clearly, with less cognitive effort than anything the analog era could deliver.
Flight Briefing
- EFIS replaced the traditional “six pack” of analog flight instruments — attitude indicator, heading indicator, airspeed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator, and turn coordinator — with integrated digital displays
- The two primary EFIS displays are the Primary Flight Display (PFD), which shows essential flight parameters, and the Navigation Display (ND), also called the Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator (EHSI), which shows position, route, and weather data
- Modern EFIS displays use liquid crystal display (LCD) technology fed by data buses that pull information from multiple aircraft sensors and computers simultaneously
- Crew alerting systems integrated into EFIS monitor aircraft parameters continuously and provide visual and auditory warnings when values move outside normal ranges
- Redundant backup displays and power sources ensure critical flight information remains available even if primary display systems fail
- The transition from analog instruments to EFIS glass cockpits represents one of the most significant safety advancements in aviation history — consolidating information reduces pilot workload and the risk of misreading individual instruments during high stress situations
How it Works
At the core of an EFIS installation is the Primary Flight Display — a large screen that presents the information previously spread across six or more separate analog instruments in one integrated view. The artificial horizon sits at the center, showing pitch and bank attitude. Airspeed is displayed as a tape on the left side, altitude as a tape on the right, vertical speed alongside it, and heading along the bottom. A pilot scanning a PFD gets all of that information in a single focused glance rather than a sweep across multiple individual gauges.
The Navigation Display sits alongside or below the PFD and handles the situational picture — where the aircraft is, where it’s going, what’s around it. Route waypoints, navigational aids, nearby airports, terrain, and weather radar returns all appear on the ND, giving the crew a continuously updated map of their environment overlaid with the information they need to navigate it safely.
Behind both displays is a network of data buses — digital communication pathways that collect information from air data computers, inertial reference systems, GPS receivers, weather radar, and other aircraft systems and feed it to the displays in real time. The displays themselves don’t generate information — they present it. The accuracy of what appears on screen depends on the accuracy of the sensors and computers feeding the system.
Crew alerting is integrated directly into the EFIS architecture. When any monitored parameter moves outside its normal range — engine pressure, hydraulic pressure, fuel quantity, electrical system status — the system generates a visual alert on the display and an auditory alert in the cockpit. Alerts are prioritized by severity so the most critical issues demand attention first. This automation catches developing problems earlier than a pilot manually scanning individual gauges could, and it does so consistently regardless of workload or fatigue.
Redundancy is built into every serious EFIS installation. Multiple display units, independent power sources, and backup instruments ensure that a single display failure doesn’t leave the crew without critical information. On most commercial aircraft the displays can be reconfigured to show essential information on remaining screens if one unit fails, and standby analog instruments provide a final backup layer.
From The Flight Deck
I’m not a pilot and I’ve never operated an EFIS system. But I’ve boarded enough aircraft over my OBC career to have seen both worlds through a cockpit door — the older regional aircraft with their panels packed full of individual analog dials, each instrument its own separate gauge with its own needle and its own way of failing, and the clean glass displays of modern jets where the same information appears organized and integrated on a handful of large screens.
The visual difference is immediately striking even to someone who isn’t flying the aircraft. The analog cockpit looks busy — a wall of round gauges demanding attention in every direction. The glass cockpit looks controlled — information presented in a hierarchy, the most critical things prominent, the supporting details available but not competing for attention.
I’m not an aviation engineer and I won’t pretend to understand every layer of what EFIS does technically. What I can say, from years of flying on aircraft that have made this transition, is that the move to glass cockpits has made flying measurably safer. The data supports that conclusion and so does simple logic — pilots with clearer, better organized information make better decisions, catch problems earlier, and carry less cognitive load during the moments when cognitive load matters most.
Every flight I take as an OBC is on an aircraft whose crew is working with tools significantly better than what their predecessors had. That’s not nothing. In an industry where the margins between normal and abnormal can be narrow, better information presented more clearly is one of the most meaningful safety improvements aviation has ever made.
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