Visual Perception and NextGen Flight Decks - Essay Example

Pilot Interaction with NextGen Flight Decks "[Click here and type " "[Click here and type your s " Pilot interaction with his airplane has always been a source of conversation around the hangar on a blustery day when it was better to be talking than to be flying. In the days of yore, when all a pilot had to worry about was a compass and an airspeed indicator, things were simple and we flew by the seat of our pants and visual reference to what appeared on the horizon. As the airplanes became more complex, the seat of the pants was still important, but had to be integrated with a panel that was becoming full of strange dials, gauges, and indicators. The pilot now stepped into a world of change and challenges that had to be mastered in order to have a successful flight. Pilot Interaction with NextGen Flight Decks Statement of Issue Ever since man has “slipped the surly bonds of earth,” much has changed for the good of the flying community with the lone exception being man himself. Man is the same as he has always been, making the same mistakes and miscalculations as in the past. For flying to become even safer than it is at this time, man must do the most changing. As a perceiving animal, man has become even more visual and more trusting of the cockpit panel. When first learning to fly, the pilots were always reminded to trust the instruments and the seat of their pants. Man will feel a change in his airplane in the seat of his pants even before the instruments pick up the change. All must work together. By trusting the instruments that means one had to refer to them frequently and during times of turbulence that might be just a bit more challenging. The instrument panel had changed little from the very first airplanes well into the 1970s. It has always been easy to find the airspeed indicator, altimeter, compass, and when the radio stack was added, the VOR, DME, etc. Even the new airplanes of today can still be equipped with the steam gages of the past, if you do not opt for the new glass cockpit. For those steeped in the past it is a bit comfortable to look at the same gage one has looked at for thirty years or more and understands how it works. If confusing the white beard, is what one wants to do, just give him a full glass cockpit and very little instruction and you will realize success. Those who flew round engines and wore brown boots learned on what was available and had to master the Link before being allowed out in the wind. These individuals never saw a computer and never played video games. If one could use an adding machine and an E6B, that was all that was needed. Today the young pilots are joining the fray fresh from hours upon hours of CRT displays and fast moving games and are very adept at thinking on their feet, exactly what will be needed in the NextGen cockpit. Pilot Information Overload Significance of the Issue As pilots move up the ladder of responsibility they also move into more stressful situations which can be caused by what is referred to as “informational overload.” When one has more information than he needs to complete a task, the excess information just floats around in the brain and sometimes causes a convolution of the thought process, resulting in slower responses to a stimuli or no response at all. Both of these situations can be catastrophic in the manipulation of an airplane full of passengers or cargo. In most instances, the pilot will recognize what is happening and will make the necessary adjustments to bring himself back under control. When pilots are learning how to fly in IFR conditions, most instructors will ensure that frequently the pilot will be distracted by one thing or another and a normal approach will just not happen. This scene is played out simply as an effort to get the pilot thinking while under a stressful situation as this is where a majority of the statistics begin to pile up against the pilots. When HUDs (Heads up Displays) began appearing on various types of airplanes, much was learned about the inability of the pilots to keep their heads up. Even with the information being displayed on the windscreen, the pilots began to look back into the panel just to make sure what they were seeing on the windscreen was the same information that was on the panel. It took a considerable number of sim rides to get the pilot’s attention back outside of the cockpit. As with anything else, after a good amount of training and experience with the display, everything fell into place. It has been said that we are quickly reaching the point of having too much information available on electronic devices in the cockpit. The devices have so much capability that some pilots are forgetting to fly the airplane and are too busy punching buttons and selecting which CRT to monitor. When this situation happens, the safety of the flight then comes into question. To meet the critics of too much technology, the electronics companies are moving more towards the automatic functions of their devices. When moving towards the automatic aspect of the next generation flight deck the crews will become responsible for programming their airplane for the trip or even just plugging a device into a computer that already has the trip planned and will initiate the outbound leg and the following stops without the pilot ever having to touch the controls. This creates a whole new series of problems where the pilots are just along for the ride and they soon might fail to pay attention to the possibility of a rising conflict as they are not in control of the situation. Relevant Research It has been said by many people that the time of general aviation has all but passed. For a pilot to fly today, it is almost necessary to have someone else pay for the flight. The time of just going out to the airport and pushing one’s plane out, cranking, and aviating are no more but for a few lucky individuals who have the money to spend. There are those among the flying public who will be able to fly a bit by renting and making just local flights and keeping the cost below $150 per hour. In reviewing the aviation literature of today, one can suddenly become depressed about the tenor of the times, but yet one can get excited about seeing what is happening with those still fortunate to be able to fly. The whole psychology of flying has undergone a great change over the course of the years. When flying was no more than the basic instruments and the horizon, a great amount of enjoyment was had by everyone who had the desire to fly, but today, safety is of greater importance than the pure enjoyment of the event. Many changes have been made to insure that the flying public remains as safe as humanly possible during their flights. The items that make flying safer today have extended down to the general aviating public though not as much as to the commercial fleet. Human psychology and flying have been related since the days just prior to World War II. Aircraft designers and manufactures were giving thought as to what might make a pilot more comfortable in the cockpit and thusly better able to conclude a safe flight. To put the words “pilot” and “psychology” together, one might get the idea that you need to be crazy to want to fly, but there is more to it than that. Cognition, memory, perception, attention, and decision making reach into every level of a pilot’s existence. (Aviation Psychology, April 15, 2011) Man is basically a creature who enjoys a certain amount of comfort in his surroundings and that includes the cockpit of his plane. He functions better when he is not confused by flashing red and amber lights, bells ringing, and horns buzzing. (http:/​/​www.aero.ca/​e, April 15, 2011) During World War II it was discovered that changing flight decks created a considerable number of problems for pilots of B-17 and B-25 aircraft. For some reason the pilots or co-pilots were retracting their gears after safe landings. “Pilot error” was the standard excuse used to explain away the bent airplanes. A new C-47 pilot was transitioning into the B-17 and made an interesting discovery. The flap and gear levers on the B-17 looked and felt exactly alike. Instead of retracting the flaps upon landing, the pilots were retracting the gear. On the C-47, the two handles were nothing alike and were not in close proximity. To solve the problem, a little tire was attached to the gear lever. According to the psychology of the bomber pilots, the lever felt right so it must be. (http:/​/​www.aero.ca/​e, April 15, 2011) As more progress was made in the study of the psychology of pilots, more thought was given to the panel layout in new designs. The first real experimental study of instrument displays designed for use with the new VOR/DME radio navigation system was done in 1949. (Roscoe, 1980) When the study was completed the shape, location, and size of the gages were established as an industry-wide standard. A pilot would be able to recognize and operate the system regardless of what airplane it was on. In 1950 industry standards were established for the first map-type VOR/DME navigation CRT in the cockpit. From this time forward aviation began to make considerable changes in the cockpits of the larger commercial airliners. Each manufacture had his own ideas about what the cockpit should look like and built it to his specifications. It was at this time that the airlines, flying many different types of planes had to develop their own schools to develop a thing they called cockpit awareness for each type of plane they flew. (http:/​/​www.helpingpsychology.com/​aviation-psychology, April 15, 2011) Just being aware of the NextGen cockpit is not enough for the future pilots. There is a whole new other area that must be considered in today’s fast moving industry. The proper balance between automation and human involvement must be realized in order to keep the cockpit a functioning unit. The maintenance of emotionally, mentally healthy pilots is very important to the industry. Now the pilots must not only know their cockpits, but they must also know themselves and become aware of their cognitive skills, ability to cooperate, and resolve conflicts all while flying the plane. (http:/​/​www.helpingpsychology.com/​aviation, April 15, 2011) World War I proved that if it were cloudy and you could not see the ground, you didn’t fly. One of the most challenging things for a pilot has always been to have absolute trust in the instruments he is flying. World War II proved that man could be taught to trust his instruments. In the years between the two great wars, much work had been done on creating instruments that would allow one to fly in almost o/o weather. The hardest thing to accomplish was to prove to the pilot that he could navigate and keep situational awareness. As everyone knows, this was completed to the great satisfaction of all. With the amount of good psychological work being done today, pilots are now going to be asked to take it one step further and fly with something that is completely synthetic which will bring all manner of information into the cockpit, traffic information, airport information, weather, separation information, as well as a virtual view of the landing environment. (Andrew J. Hansen & W. Garth Smith, 2010) The SVS system will be developed by several different companies, much like the GPS systems of today. This system is moving ahead at a rapid rate with some modalities available now and should be available to aviation, in its final form, prior to 2015. For those pilots who are computer friendly and are not bothered by not seeing the real environment, this will prove to be way of reducing the workload in what can be a high stress environment of landing under instrument conditions. There is talk of allowing the SVS to accept a two hundred foot decision height. That fact might impact the pilots more than anything else. In the early forms of instrument flying, pilots suffered from a thing they did not understand. The term “fixation” was applied to mean that the pilot was so attached to what was happening with the instruments that his piloting skills suffered. More than one wreck can be traced to a pilot whose attention was distracted from the landing environment to something inside the cockpit that got his attention such as the squawking horn or the aural warning “Pull Up! Pull Up! Regardless of how much flying experience one has in his logbook or in his mind the most seasoned pilot can and will make mistakes. (Foyle, Ahumada, Larimer, & Sweet, 1992) Current research is showing that there are many things that impact a pilot’s incorrect decision making. These are the same things that cause wrecks on the freeways or bad decisions in the office or at home. Since safety is of primary importance on the NextGen flight deck, it is important that considerable attention be devoted to the process of decision making at every level of one’s life. Already mentioned was the term “fixation”. Another modern term for almost the same thing is “anchoring or focalism”. These two terms each rely on the fact that individuals do not take into consideration more than one piece of information when making decisions. In the cockpit, that would prove to be almost catastrophic in every instance. Another thing that can be just as dangerous as “anchoring” is the idea that the whole airplane is out to get you. It seems as if everything that could go wrong is going wrong and there are too many things for one person to consider. This basic point was first observed in the bomber commands of World War II. Many times a crew would bring a damaged bomber home and realize that there was much more wrong with the plane than they originally thought which would result in some fast decision making at very low altitudes and slow airspeed. In many cases, if the crew did not realize what was happening, the big bomber would stall and roll in for no apparent reason. Good radio communication allowed for this problem to be discovered and corrective measures were taken post haste. The one rule that was developed to address the situation is not unique. It is the same rule that every pilot learned early in his training. Fly the plane! Summary In summary, the cockpits of the airplanes will change much over the coming years. Something new will always be added to an already popular place and the required training will be instituted. Many challenges still face the manufacturing industry and the pilots of the world’s airplanes. The human factor is the only thing in the equation of flight that cannot be changed except through constant training and practice. What must be addressed by the engineers of the modern airplane will be the design and visual displays that will present in an unambiguous manner visual cues to enable the pilots to fly their aircraft. Visual cues must be given a considerable amount of attention as the pilot often does not have time to look all over the cockpit for help, when it is needed. As we have entered a new century, more and more we are being forced to realize that man has just about reached his physical limits of man-controlled flight. The fighter planes of today far exceed the abilities of man to control them due to the physiology of mankind. The airplanes can do more than the man who is attempting to fly and control them. Until a system of self-contained gravity can be discovered, man can go no faster than he can today. With that being said, the cockpits of the military planes are pretty well designed out leaving the industry to concentrate on the commercial and private fleets. The NextGen cockpits of the modern commercial and light airplanes must be organized in a manner that will respond to the needs of the modern pilot. When everything is taken into consideration, it might be a good idea to start removing from the cockpit things that are no longer needed. With the new communications gear being installed in the planes, at the least two radios could be removed and an emergency transceiver placed in the pilots flying bag. As is always the case, special instruments need to always be on the flight deck. One of the newest and strongest systems are the various EICAS displays (Engine Indicating and Crew Alert System). This system allows for instant information on anything that might be affecting the power supply of the plane. Another system that every plane should be equipped with is the TCAS with aural alert (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System). TCAS would benefit the general aviation fleet as it now does for the commercial carriers. Whatever is finally the look of the NextGen flight deck, it might be a moot point if the Federal Government does not make the necessary upgrades in the national system. It would do little good to have an automatic position reporting system (APRS) on the new flight deck, if it had no one to talk to. Recommendations for Future Research As we look at aviation psychology as a specific branch of science, we must realize that there is more to flying than the NextGen cockpit layout or what color the instrument displays should have. Within our society today is a number of highly trained individuals who should be assisting in the selecting and training of our next generation of pilots. The evaluation of potential employees should be of paramount importance to everyone who uses airplanes on a daily basis. There are some people out there seeking jobs who cannot handle the tremendous workload of a flight deck. These individuals need to be identified and steered into a new career path. Another thing that must be addressed is the maintenance of the emotional health of our current pilots. Pilots need to be encouraged to remain healthy and mentally ready to perform their task. If one would take a look at the food available to the flying crews, on a daily basis, it should start ringing a few bells in our community. It would be a good idea to use assessment centers to evaluate many procedures within the aviation industry, as they impact the pilots. There are things that the air carriers could be doing to encourage the well-being of their employees which would go beyond the NextGen cockpit and hits at the core problem of a person feeling that he is a worthy employee. Good communication skills and conflict resolution should be as much a part of the NextGen flight deck as will any new instrument added to the flight deck. Team behavior is an important part of our society and also should be part of the flight deck mentality of every carrier. When working as a team, nothing but positive economic benefits for the company will be realized. There will be higher job satisfaction and a great improvement in flight safety. The eradication of human error due to increased automation will not be realized. If a human is involved in the process at any given point, that is where the error will occur. In many cases, automation can and will make the job easier, but there are also things known as automation surprises, where something does not work, for whatever reason. In conclusion, something that was said early on in this paper is the fact that man will have to make the most changes when facing the NextGen Flight Deck. References Andrew J. Hansen, & W. Garth Smith. (2010). [Synthetic Vision in the Cockpit: 3D Systems for General Aviation]. Unpublished report. Caro, P. (1988). Flight training and simulation. In E. Weiner & D. Nagel (eds), Human Factors in Aviation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Foyle, D. C., Ahumada, A. J., Larimer, J., & Sweet, B. T. (1992). Enhanced/​synthetic vision systems: Human factors research and implications. Sae Transactions: Journal of Aerospace, 101(10), 1734-1741. http://helpingpsychology.com/aviation-psychology http://www. aviationpsychology.net, accessed 4-15-11 http://www.aero.ca/e, accessed 4-15-11 Jensen, R.S. (1989). Aviation Psychology. Aldershot, UK: Gower Technical Publishers. Roscoe, S. N. (1980). Aviation Psychology. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. (Original work published 1980) Supporting 4D Trajectory Revisions on the Flight Deck: Design of a Human–Machine Interface. Bart J. A. van Marwijk; Clark Borst; Mark Mulder; Max Mulder; Marinus M. van Paassen The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 1532-7108, Volume 21, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 35 – 61 Read More