Restoring the instrument panel in the cockpit

Suomeksi

When the former SAS Caravelle SE-DAF arrived in Finland in August 2022, its fuselage was tilted 45 degrees due to the limited height in the ferry’s vehicle deck. In the former Pansio shipyard hall, where the aircraft was brought for restoration, the fuselage remained in this position for the first five months. This allowed easier access to the upper section of the fuselage where the cleaning and grinding work started.

In the beginning of 2023 the fuselage was turned into an upright position, and we could enter the cabin and the cockpit for the first time. We were shocked – a mild expression for what we felt – to see saw how drastically the interior had been disassembled. The cabin seats, overhead shelves and surface materials had been removed, and there was not much left of the cockpit equipment either.

Cockpit interior on 27 March 2023 when the Turku team saw it for the first time

In the cockpit, about 30-35 instruments or display panels were missing from the instrument panel. The paint was peeling and the surfaces looked rundown after decades of neglect on the edge of Arlanda airport.

Martti Saarinen, a member of the Caravelle technical team, set to looking for the missing instruments and radio operating panels in co-operation with Antti Hyvärinen. Janne Salonen, for his part, contacted the aviation museums in Sweden to find missing instruments.

The cockpit on 25 October 2023, about seven months after the previous picture was taken.

Several of the missing instruments have been found, many have been donated by various organisations and private persons. Some instruments have not been available, so Martti Saarinen built copies (non-operational replicas) to replace them.

Painting work progressed in the cockpit, and the glare shield was unfastened to be restored. 
The side panels of the cockpit were painted by the Turku team. To maintain an authentic appearance, the original paintwork was retained on the instrument panels.
The glare shield above the instrument panel was restored at Vantaa by the Tuesday Club of Aviation Museum Society Finland.

The hunt for the missing instruments was still on and one by one items were found online. In autumn 2025 the instrument panel was quite complete. Other equipment in the cockpit was also restored, e.g. the throttle levers. In 2025 also the textiles of the pilots’ seats were cleaned, repaired and partly replaced.

The cockpit on 24 September.2025 when lighting had been installed

When the electrical work progressed, lighting was installed in the cockpit. The new led strip under the glare shield lights up the instrument panel quite nicely. There is still some painting work remaining and we are looking for the last missing parts and radio panels.

The autopilot control panel in September 2025

One of the latest additions on the instrument panel is the autopilot panel. Martti Saarinen had to build it because a real one couldn’t be found.

The radio panels in the pilots’ ceiling panel on 13 October 2025

The latest addition is the control panel of the ADF radio, which we were donated in early October 2025. It can be seen in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture.

We are still looking for some items and maybe one day we will find real instruments to replace the replicas we have now in the cockpit.

The control panel of the HF-radio and the fault indication panels for the navigation systems are missing. Although the HF-installation varied on the SAS aircraft. Initially, black cover plates were used on the aircraft when some equipment had not been installed.

Photos: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen