Aircraft Flight Deck

[mhm]

Ok a bit of fun.

Why is the flight deck called a Cockpit ?

[Harpic]

Mike,
I Read somewhere So I had a search around and found it.
Here is what a guy was saying about it.

it goes back to the early days of aviation when aircraft had open cockpits and the overhead wing of biplanes were wet wings (the fuel tank was the actual wing itself).
The petcock, which is usually a small spring loaded valve to control fuel flow from the tanks to the engine as well as drain a sample of fuel from the tanks for contaminates such as water or grit that inadvertently enter the fuel.
A person could drain off the water - which is heavier than fuel, thus it sinks to the lowest part of the tank - where the petcock is installed.
Now with that said the actual petcock on most early aircraft was where the wings came together at the center of the fuselage which was directly overhead the open seat of the pilot, making where the pilot sat the pit under the petcock - or cockpit