The Continuity Guide
Eagle Guide
by Martin Willey

There are usually two types of input "control elements." Touch sensitive white, green, blue, orange, yellow or red lights are very common. There are also black or white rubber keys with a white, green, orange, yellow or red bottom strip. These are often marked with letters, numbers, symbols, Greek and Cyrillic characters only. Both types of keys usually emit a loud click or beep when pressed. Many operations require two or three keystrokes and since many input keys have no markings, most are probably computer function keys that perform different functions in different contexts (real-life fighter aircraft or Soyuz spacecraft "multifunction display" keyboard systems operate on the same principle)

A broad view of the flight console from the pilot's side.

This view shows the console and the flight levers in front.

Closeup view of the top left corner of the Eagle pilot flight console (Earthbound). Alan Carter pushes the "Input" and "Mark" buttons to activate the "vacuum chamber" airlock. The small instrument below looks very much like a modern aircraft multifunction display. The twin "Vacuum Chamber" buttons and most of the labels do not appear in the first four episodes.

The bottom left corner of the Eagle pilot flight console. The twin red buttons perform different payload related functions. Seen here is the Ring Around The Moon configuration, where the left button sets the gravity shield to 50% power. The one on the right gives full gravity shield power (in Black Sun it fires the laser instead).

A row of six buttons are normally hidden behind plastic key guards.These also appear to be payload-dependent. In this scene from Black Sun Carter fires a laser beam. In Ring Around The Moon and War Games the two red buttons turn on and off the autopilot instead.

The centre section has a small hardcopy printer unit (it is used in Matter of Life And Death and Space Warp only). There are also three buttons labeled A,B,C. In this scene Maya pushes the middle "B" button to retract the launch pad boarding tube (Space Warp)

In Breakaway, the cargo Eagle centre panel has a second instrument display instead.

The other half of the Eagle commander's flight console is dominated by a 10" cathode ray tube. The square keypad at left has eight illuminated touch sensitive keys, plus three small buttons on top which do not appear in the early episodes. In Death's Other Dominion and The A B Chrysalis, the yellow button at top right turns on the external camera. The labels read "Demodulators" and, below, "Quadruplers" (both terms are used in electronics for signal processing).

The copilot flight console is seen less frequently. This is the bottom half (All That Glisters).

A rare good view of the copilot flight console from Guardian of Piri. It seems the two colour multifunction displays show velocity, estimated arrival time and distance information, among other parameters (Catacombs of the Moon, The Seance Spectre, Brian The Brain). In most episodes the copilot acts as a systems manager, monitoring the instruments while the commander pilots the Eagle.

The buttons between the copilot and pilot are rarely used. The two red buttons above the "K","M" were added in Ring Around The Moon. These buttons switch off the main power/propulsion system in War Games as well.

In year 2, most of the centre console buttons were covered by a central extension equipped with an additional two ten-inch CRT displays.

The CRT screen frequently displays video from external cameras. It is almost always black and white, except in Breakaway.

The CRT also shows systems messages ("EMERGENCY LANDING", "ABORT", "RED ALERT" etc.).

The flight console screen is frequently used as a video telephone. The leftmost button below the CRT starts the video call in The Full Circle and Guardian of Piri (the red button at far right is used for the same purpose in Seed of Destruction).

The four buttons below the pilot cathode ray tube probably perform the same function (in Mission of the Darians Carter pushes the leftmost button to contact Main Mission).

Another view of the Eagle pilot console screens. The buttons at far left turn on and off various primary as well as backup systems to conserve power (War Games, The Last Sunset).

In early year 1 episodes, most of the buttons have no labels. The yellow "6" and adjacent unlabeled green buttons start and end video calls in Ring Around the Moon and Matter of Life and Death, respectively.

The Eagle cockpit front windows must be smaller on the inside as they are of a different shape than the external windows. This is the year 1 port side configuration. Only the port side window is seen- we never see the starboard window.

The year 2 version is largely similar. There are three small additional dials top left.

In year 2 the area between the pilot and copilot windows supposedly contains a "big screen" (Space Warp). It can display star charts, external images and presumably computer data as well. The small instruments around are Sperry aircraft instruments, including several radio altimeters, attitude indicators, VHF nav receivers (indicating there are VOR ground stations around the Moonbase), King KWX 50/60 weather radar and STARS (Sperry Three Axis Altitude Reference System) auto-pilot/ flight director. See prop photos

A rare, good view of the top two rows of the port side panel. These switches are used less frequently than those on the main flight console. In Space Warp and probably in Guardian of Piri too, Koenig accesses these panels to plot the coordinates home.

Behind the seat, inaccessible to the pilot, is a small fire extinguisher.

The side panels behind the left seat are shown in Guardian of Piri. They are never used, so these switches may contain pre/post-launch subsystems only.

A view of the aft port side panel (Alpha Child)

A distorted view of the centre port side panels (Black Sun)

The panels in the fourth row close to the floor are never shown except for this closeup shot from The Mark of Archanon. Note that the topmost panels have been rearranged. The "Manual" and "Remote" flight control buttons are Year 2 additions. In War Games, Alan Carter pushes the large yellow button between the "AU" and "M" buttons to turn off the cabin lights,

The port side panel closest to the main console is longer than the others. In this scene from Black Sun, Mike Ryan pushes the first three button to switch on his sensors.

In War Games, the laser button is moved to this panel. Note status lights at upper left.

The forward panels on the starboard (co-pilot's) side.

The front side panel on the opposite side of the flight control is quite similar. In this scene from Devil's Planet, the button at right activates the retro thrusters. In Testament of Arkadia, the "Active" light is switched on by pressing the same button.

The topmost row of panels on the starboard side. The one visible at upper left contains the "oxygen support system" controls (The Rules Of Luton) while the adjacent buttons labeled A..D fix the position and course of the lost Eagle 1 in Collision Course.

Closeup of the oxygen life support system display (The Rules of Luton); the button in the middle was added for this particular episode.

The side computer panels were largely unchanged until The Mark Of Archanon, after which the panels were shuffled as required through the series. The starboard "Engine Ignition" panel was moved forward, and upgraded with new "Engines on/off" buttons. The black button under the "Engine ignition" label ignites the secondary engines in Devil's Planet. The panel partly visible at upper right was originally located on the opposite (port) side.

This panel includes, among other things, switches for the "solar battery" backup power system (The A B Chrysalis)

The yellow "2" button at upper left displays magnified remote sensing images on the "big screen" (The Seance Spectre). The square keypad at left is used for plotting the course to other celestial objects (The A B Chrysalis)

Some of the side panels seem to have Cyrillic text. This particular panel contain circuit breakers (Carter inserts a piece of metal to force a short circuit in Collision Course). In some episodes the panel has handles so that it can be opened for maintenance, e.g. in Seed Of Destruction.

A new "Laser Control" panel was created for Devil's Planet and The Immunity Syndrome.

The "Back Up System" and "Stabilisers" systems panels only appear in The Immunity Syndrome. They appear to be simple covers, with the original panel lights visible beneath.

The second side panel from left is highly unusual and only appears, briefly, in The Testament of Arkadia