Abstract: A mounting apparatus for mounting the pilot's display unit for a head-up display system in an aircraft cockpit affords a stowage position for the display unit which does not restrict the pilot's movement or obscure his vision, and further provides ease of transition between the operating and stowage positions. The mounting apparatus provides a crash-release feature which permits the pilot's display unit to breakaway forwardly upon impact and to be constrained in a forward position to prevent the display unit from rebounding violently rearwardly toward the pilot's head. The mounting apparatus further provides a quick-replacement capability which permits fast and easy removal and installation of the pilot's display unit with a minimum of tools and no need for realignment.

Abstract: A head-up display for use in an automotive or other vehicle having limited space. The optical path from display symbol generator to a collimating lens is folded to fit in a relatively compact housing. Also shown is the use of the automobile windshield as a combiner glass for the display. Corrective lenses, and in particular crossed linear fresnel lenses, are used to correct for the astigmatism introduced by the geometry of the windshield. This provides a combination of optical powers for the display lens and the windshield which has the resultant effect of projecting an image from the image source to the driver's eye. The source is a high light output array of light-emitting diodes. A microprocessor based controller for detecting the status of inputs from the automobile is shown. Data is periodically loaded into a random access memory dedicated to controlling the display.