Definition
An aircraft fitted with Electronic Flight Displays (EFDs) — digital screens that present flight instrument information (attitude, airspeed, altitude, heading, navigation, engine data) in place of traditional mechanical analog gauges. These aircraft typically integrate the EFDs with an autopilot and flight management system, allowing the autopilot to be programmed and monitored through the displays themselves.
Plain English
An aircraft whose cockpit uses computer screens for the flight instruments instead of round dial gauges. The screens show the same information a pilot would otherwise read from individual instruments, and they tie into the autopilot.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument flying and autopilot discussions, especially when the handbook explains how pilots monitor automation on modern flight displays.
Derivation
EFD stands for Electronic Flight Display. "Electronic" because the information is generated and shown by computer rather than by mechanical movement, and "flight display" because it presents the data a pilot needs to fly the aircraft.
Why Pilots Care
Autopilot modes and flight director commands interact directly with the electronic displays, changing how the pilot monitors and manages the system during instrument flight.
Intuition Check
EFD-equipped does not automatically mean the aircraft is fully automated. It means the aircraft has electronic flight display screens; the pilot still must verify and manage the autopilot correctly.
Example Sentence 1
In an EFD-equipped aircraft, the pilot selects the autopilot heading and altitude targets directly through the display rather than turning knobs on separate instruments.
Example Sentence 2
Pilots transitioning from round-dial trainers must learn the different scan pattern used in an EFD-equipped aircraft.