The cockpit of the Princess was designed to be operated by a pair of pilots, two flight engineers, a navigator, and a radio operator. Early on, it had been intended for the aircraft to be outfitted with some form of powered flight controls, including an early fly-by-wire implementation, in order that pilots would be able to effectively actuate its large control surfaces, which would have to overcome equally larger forces. However, it was decided to opt for a traditional mechanical linkage approach that was augmented by a series of electrically-driven power assist units to effectively support actuation instead.