Space: 1999 Eagle Cockpit

Eagle Pilot Section

The Eagle could be flown by a single pilot (seated port in the command module) or by a pilot with copilot. Remote control from Main Mission was used in certain circumstances: when pilots were incapacitated (Matter Of Life And Death, Ring Around The Moon, The Full Circle), in dangerous situations (The Last Sunset), during systems failure (The Seance Spectre, The Last Enemy) or when operations precluded a pilot (Breakaway, Space Brain, The Metamorph). The Eagle must be switched from "manual" to "automatic" to allow this to happen (Ring Around The Moon, Space Brain, Dragon's Domain, The Bringers Of Wonder part 1).

If the flight involved atmospheric operations, the pilots wore normal uniforms, but in space they wear spacesuits. In some circumstances it is arguable (Missing Link, The AB Chrysalis). The general principle is broken several times, notably by wearing uniforms in space operations in Space Brain, The Mark of Archanon, Brian The Brain, Space Warp, and The Dorcons.

The chairs are dentist chairs; the same seats (probably literally the same props) are seen in Medical sets.

Year 1 and Year 2 pilot sections.

Martin Landau was 1.9 m (6'3") tall and barely fits on this gurney, which itself is too long for the pilot section. The rear door cannot be closed, creating a continuity error when the command module separates from the Eagle.

Behind the scenes

The set in Year 1 and Year 2. There was never a front to the set (the window/viewscreen were SFX props made and filmed at Bray Studios). Either side could be pulled out to allow the cameras to film, but normally they filmed from the port side. If the camera pulled back, the rear of the flight console was covered (logically, this would be against the forward bulkhead). If filming showing the flight console, the sides may be extended with black or grey panelling. In The Immunity Syndrome a view of the starboard wall is extended by adding the port wall lights in front.

See the 2024 convention Eagle set which is an accurate recreation of the set.

For TV shots, only the seat and backdrop are needed. The walkway is not there, the pilot side wall is a normal Alphan wall panel, and Paul Jones has to mime holding the control levers.

Door labels

The door to the command module was numbered 6, whatever the Eagle number, in the first 6 episodes (Breakaway, Matter Of Life And Death, Black Sun, Ring Around The Moon, Earthbound, Another Time, Another Place: the double door to the passenger module was numbered 5/4 and the rear door 3). The command module door should be a double door (inner/outer) like the passenger module, but this was not the case in year 1.

From Missing Link onwards the correct number appeared (War Games had a 9 in Eagle 1). Text might also be added to the number: "Reconnaissance Eagle 4" and "Rescue Eagle 4" in Collision Course.

In year 2, the label "Eagle" is added above the number.

Another change to the command module is the red and black padding around the door. For some episodes, a bit of the black trim is misaligned. On the left (starboard) side on the inside of the frame, the black trim is placed lower, out of alignment with the frame facing the cabin and the other side of the door.
The problem starts in Another Time, Another Place and remains until Dragon's Domain. Everything is aligned from Breakaway to Earthbound, in the last episode Testament of Arkadia and some scenes in Space Brain (certain shots were filmed at the end of the series).
Thanks to Simon.

Side levers

At the start of the series, there are narrow boxes along the sides of the central walkway, with two sticks in each. The pilot side sticks are close together; the co-pilot sticks are wider apart, with the front one sometimes much closer to the front console.

In The Last Sunset we see an unusual set of 3 sticks by the co-pilot. Later in the same episode, these are all removed.

In Collision Course, the pilot and co-pilot had boxes sitting on the walkway with handles (to operate the grab release). Notably Koenig's Eagles do not have these boxes, retaining the old levers. Afterwards they became piloting controls. Their position may shift forward and back. These handles first appeared in the Voyager (Voyager's Return) between the two seats.

From Death's Other Dominion, the side lever boxes become standard on all Eagles.

In Space Brain a new control level is added, the MANUAL/ AUTO switch on the pilot side. It can also be glimpsed in Dragon's Domain and The Testament Of Arkadia.

In The Metamorph, the second control box moves to the co-pilot side, behind the main lever box. It controls the spine boosters. The label on top is "Booster", with "Full Thrust" to the rear.

In All That Glisters, the rear control moves from "Booster" to "Full Thrust", and then the control levers start rising, as the Eagle takes off. Above the ground, the front control levers move from the front position to the rear, and the Eagle begins to descend.

The single handle control box then moves back to the pilot side. It controls the retro-rockets in Devil's Planetand the "main motors" in The Immunity Syndrome.)

In Space Warp, a close up of the control levers, marked "Throttle" with "Manual" and "Automatic" - although both are moved at the same time, causing the engines to fire.

In The Immunity Syndrome, Alan breaks the throttle lever.

Flight console

The flight console screens were in colour in Breakaway only (although red text appears in Death's Other Dominion). An extension panel between the pilots appeared in The Metamorph and its screens were used in preference from then on.

The flight console in front of the pilots changed slightly after Earthbound to include the vacuum chamber controls, and were revised again for Year 2. The laser was usually controlled from one of several buttons behind a hatch, although this varied.

In The Seance Spectre

In Another Time, Another Place, two red clipboards can be seen resting against the black cockpit front wall, one of the few times it can be "seen" (see image thanks to Martin Daoust). The black front wall is present in Year 1 shots showing the area in front of the cockpit console. A black front bulkhead could function as a retractable "glare shield" since there must be windows directly in front of the seats as the pilots are blinded in several episodes (Breakaway, Ring Around The Moon, War Games).

In Space Brain and The Immunity Syndrome, a nuclear detonation control unit was placed on top of the console. Other items placed on the console include the space warp detector, discovered and used in the Eagle in Space Warp, and also seen in Devil's Planet and The Immunity Syndrome, and an Eagle remote control unit in Eagle 4 in Space Warp.

The flight console shifts forwards and backwards, as do the chairs. Sometimes the pilot chairs are against the back of the cockpit, at other times they have a gap behind them.

The console is only 2 feet/ 60 cm wide, and some camera views show beyond the edge. The sides of the set are extended with dark grey backing, usually in shadow to disguise the length of the set. Year Two shots are less consistent; in Rules Of Luton, even the edge of this extension is seen.

In Space Warp, the extension is covered in odd pieces. In The Immunity Syndrome the yellow wall lights continue indefinitely (the pilot side wall has been moved to extend the set).

Front wall, windows and viewscreen

In The Beta Cloud, two shots show normal computer panels beyond the creature on the centre and starboard side. These are possibly payload avionics racks, installed in front of the copilot console if the Eagle is flown by a single pilot only.

Otherwise, we only see insert shots of either a window or a screen.

The window (only the port window is ever seen) features in Breakaway, Ring Around The Moon, Alpha Child, Collision Course, The Full Circle, Space Warp, The Seance Spectre, Devil's Planet and The Immunity Syndrome. The window(s) are supposedly located directly in front of the seated pilots while the screen is located between the pilots. They are never visible in side shots so they must be located in front of the extension of the set, i.e. some distance in front of the pilot console. This creates a continuity problem with the SFX miniature Eagle, so the "window" may in fact be a periscope like device. The use of fibre optics or prisms would allow the seated pilot an unobstructed view of the lunar surface during landing (the top windows would be largely useless for this purpose anyway).

The screen is used in Space Warp, Seed Of Destruction, The A B Chrysalis, The Bringers Of Wonder part 2, The Seance Spectre & Devil's Planet.

A graticule (firing-sights) pattern was seen in War Games (also used in The Last Sunset in Alpha, and in The Dorcons by the Dorcons).

The side computer panels were unchanged until The Mark Of Archanon when new panels included "Oxygen" and "Manual/Remote" on the port (pilot) side and "Engine Ignition" (or "Auxiliary- Engines On/Off") on the starboard (copilot) side. The panels were then shuffled as required through the series. In Devil's Planet, a "Laser Control" panel appeared on the starboard. In The Immunity Syndrome "Backup System" and "Standby System" panels were used on the starboard side. Some of the side panels seem to have Cyrillic text.