Results for “flight deck” — Page 2

NASA NTRS1992

Definition of the 2005 flight deck environment

A detailed description of the functional requirements necessary to complete any normal commercial flight or to handle any plausible abnormal situation is provided. This analysis is enhanced with an examination of possible future developments and constraints in the areas of air traffic organization and flight deck technologies (including new devices and procedures) which may influence the design of 2005 flight decks. This study includes a discussion on the importance of a systematic approach to identifying and solving flight deck information management issues, and a description of how the present work can be utilized as part of this approach. While the intent of this study was to investigate issues surrounding information management in 2005-era supersonic commercial transports, this document may be applicable to any research endeavor related to future flight deck system design in either supersonic or subsonic airplane development.

Alter, K. W.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Evaluation of Technology Concepts for Energy, Automation, and System State Awareness in Commercial Airline Flight Decks

A pilot-in-the-loop flight simulation study was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center to evaluate flight deck systems that (1) provide guidance for recovery from low energy states and stalls, (2) present the current state and expected future state of automated systems, and/or (3) show the state of flight-critical data systems in use by automated systems and primary flight instruments. The study was conducted using 13 commercial airline crews from multiple airlines, paired by airline to minimize procedural effects. Scenarios spanned a range of complex conditions and several emulated causal and contributing factors found in recent accidents involving loss of state awareness by pilots (e.g., energy state, automation state, and/or system state). Three new technology concepts were evaluated while used in concert with current state-of-the-art flight deck systems and indicators. The technologies include a stall recovery guidance algorithm and display concept, an enhanced airspeed control indicator that shows when automation is no longer actively controlling airspeed, and enhanced synoptic pages designed to work with simplified interactive electronic checklists. An additional synoptic was developed to provide the flight crew with information about the effects of loss of flight critical data. Data was collected via questionnaires administered at the completion of flight scenarios, audio/video recordings, flight data, head and eye tracking data, pilot control inputs, and researcher observations. This paper presents findings derived from the questionnaire responses and subjective data measures including workload, situation awareness, usability, and acceptability as well as analyses of two low-energy flight events that resulted in near-stall conditions.

Kramer, Lynda J.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Flight Deck Surface Trajectory-Based Operations

Surface Trajectory-Based Operations (STBO) is a future concept for surface operations where time requirements are incorporated into taxi operations to support surface planning and coordination. Pilot-in-the-loop flight deck simulations have been conducted to study flight deck displays algorithms to aid pilots in complying with the time requirements of time-based taxi operations (i.e., at discrete locations in 3 12 D operations or at all points along the route in 4DT operations). The results of these studies (conformance, time-of-arrival error, eye-tracking data, and safety ratings) are presented. Flight deck simulation work done in collaboration with DLR is described. Flight deck research issues in future auto-taxi operations are also introduced.

flight deck↗

NASA NTRS1995

Summary of a Crew-Centered Flight Deck Design Philosophy for High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Aircraft

Past flight deck design practices used within the U.S. commercial transport aircraft industry have been highly successful in producing safe and efficient aircraft. However, recent advances in automation have changed the way pilots operate aircraft, and these changes make it necessary to reconsider overall flight deck design. Automated systems have become more complex and numerous, and often their inner functioning is partially or fully opaque to the flight crew. Recent accidents and incidents involving autoflight system mode awareness Dornheim, 1995) are an example. This increase in complexity raises pilot concerns about the trustworthiness of automation, and makes it difficult for the crew to be aware of all the intricacies of operation that may impact safe flight. While pilots remain ultimately responsible for mission success, performance of flight deck tasks has been more widely distributed across human and automated resources. Advances in sensor and data integration technologies now make far more information available than may be prudent to present to the flight crew.

Palmer, Michael T.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Line Pilots' Attitudes about and Experience with Flight Deck Automation: Results of an International Survey and Proposed Guidelines

A survey of line pilots' attitudes about flight deck automation was conducted by the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine (RAF IAM, Farnborough, UK) under the sponsorship of the United Kingdom s Civil Aviation Authority and in cooperation with IATA (the International Air Transport Association). Survey freehand comments given by pilots operating 13 types of commercial transports across five manufacturers (Airbus, Boeing, British Aerospace, Lockheed, and McDonnell-Douglas) and 57 air carriers/organizations were analyzed by NASA. These data provide a "lessons learned" knowledge base which may be used for the definition of guidelines for flight deck automation and its associated crew interface within the High Speed Research Program. The aircraft chosen for analysis represented a progression of levels of automation sophistication and complexity, from "Basic" types (e.g., B727, DC9), through "Transition" types (e.g., A300, Concorde), to two levels of glass cockpits (e.g., Glass 1: e.g., A310; Glass 2: e.g., B747-400). This paper reports the results of analyses of comments from pilots flying commercial transport types having the highest level of automation sophistication (B757/B767, B747-400, and A320). Comments were decomposed into five categories relating to: (1) general observations with regard to flight deck automation; comments concerning the (2) design and (3) crew understanding of automation and the crew interface; (4) crew operations with automation; and (5) personal factors affecting crew/automation interaction. The goal of these analyses is to contribute to the definition of guidelines which may be used during design of future aircraft flight decks.

Rudisill, Marianne↗

NASA NTRS1980

Flight-deck automation - Promises and problems

The paper analyzes the role of human factors in flight-deck automation, identifies problem areas, and suggests design guidelines. Flight-deck automation using microprocessor technology and display systems improves performance and safety while leading to a decrease in size, cost, and power consumption. On the other hand negative factors such as failure of automatic equipment, automation-induced error compounded by crew error, crew error in equipment set-up, failure to heed automatic alarms, and loss of proficiency must also be taken into account. Among the problem areas discussed are automation of control tasks, monitoring of complex systems, psychosocial aspects of automation, and alerting and warning systems. Guidelines are suggested for designing, utilising, and improving control and monitoring systems. Investigation into flight-deck automation systems is important as the knowledge gained can be applied to other systems such as air traffic control and nuclear power generation, but the many problems encountered with automated systems need to be analyzed and overcome in future research.

Wiener, E. L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

TDWR information on the flight deck

TDWR information on the flight deck is presented in the form of view-graphs. The following subject areas are covered: air/ground wind shear information integration research; wind shear detection/warning and avoidance system; initial experiment; and future plans.

Hinton, Dave↗

NASA NTRS2019

The Prevalence of Controlled Rest as a Countermeasure to Sleepiness on the Flight Deck

Despite the introduction of flight, duty, and rest time regulations to reduce the risk of sleepiness, airline pilots often encounter elevated sleepiness during flight. To combat this sleepiness, in some instances, pilots can take a short nap on the flight deck (controlled rest) to improve their alertness. Little is known, however, as to when and how often this countermeasure is used operationally.

sleepiness↗

NASA NTRS2010

Development of a Human Motor Model for the Evaluation of an Integrated Alerting and Notification Flight Deck System

A human motor model was developed on the basis of performance data that was collected in a flight simulator. The motor model is under consideration as one component of a virtual pilot model for the evaluation of NextGen crew alerting and notification systems in flight decks. This model may be used in a digital Monte Carlo simulation to compare flight deck layout design alternatives. The virtual pilot model is being developed as part of a NASA project to evaluate multiple crews alerting and notification flight deck configurations. Model parameters were derived from empirical distributions of pilot data collected in a flight simulator experiment. The goal of this model is to simulate pilot motor performance in the approach-to-landing task. The unique challenges associated with modeling the complex dynamics of humans interacting with the cockpit environment are discussed, along with the current state and future direction of the model.

Daiker, Ron↗

NASA NTRS1994

Cognitive representations of flight-deck information attributes

A large number of aviation issues are generically being called fligh-deck information management issues, underscoring the need for an organization or classification structure. One objective of this study was to empirically determine how pilots organize flight-deck information attributes and -- based upon that data -- develop a useful taxonomy (in terms of better understanding the problems and directing solutions) for classifying flight-deck information management issues. This study also empirically determined how pilots model the importance of flight-deck information attributes for managing information. The results of this analysis suggest areas in which flight-deck researchers and designers may wish to consider focusing their efforts.

Ricks, Wendell R.↗

NASA NTRS1995

A crew-centered flight deck design philosophy for High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) aircraft

Past flight deck design practices used within the U.S. commercial transport aircraft industry have been highly successful in producing safe and efficient aircraft. However, recent advances in automation have changed the way pilots operate aircraft, and these changes make it necessary to reconsider overall flight deck design. The High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) mission will likely add new information requirements, such as those for sonic boom management and supersonic/subsonic speed management. Consequently, whether one is concerned with the design of the HSCT, or a next generation subsonic aircraft that will include technological leaps in automated systems, basic issues in human usability of complex systems will be magnified. These concerns must be addressed, in part, with an explicit, written design philosophy focusing on human performance and systems operability in the context of the overall flight crew/flight deck system (i.e., a crew-centered philosophy). This document provides such a philosophy, expressed as a set of guiding design principles, and accompanied by information that will help focus attention on flight crew issues earlier and iteratively within the design process. This document is part 1 of a two-part set.

Palmer, Michael T.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flight Deck Design of a Hybrid Turbine/Electric Passenger Aircraft

NASA is exploring the development of a 180-passenger subsonic single engine aft turbine aircraft, The aft turbine provides electric power in a hybrid design to wing mounted electric engines, creating a highly efficient, high-bypass-ratio fan equivalent. The SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) aircraft is being developed as a sustainable subsonic regional aircraft that seeks to reduce emission levels by 50% in the next few decades. Pilot-in-the-loop studies were conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to explore the flight deck design for the hybrid electric aircraft. Following modern trends in commercial aircraft flight decks with full time augmented controls and a quiet and dark philosophy, single throttle and simplified engine displays were developed for the SUSAN aircraft. The aircraft includes a single aft mounted turbine engine and 16 wing mounted electric fans. The final design was developed from feedback received during an earlier pilot-in-the-loop study where one, two, and three throttles were tested in standard airline operations, including various failures of the turbine and electric engines. Current flight deck designs normally provide control inceptors for each propulsion engine and an engine display for all primary aircraft engine parameters. With full time augmentation expected, a single throttle control with autothrottle always engaged, even during failures, is desired. Augmentation of flight controls using distributed thrust also requires full time control of the electric engines using automation. Additionally, electric engine thrust is augmented during climb based on battery state of charge. Thrust augmentation changes faster than human reaction time and therefore requires full-time automation. A pilot-in-the-loop study was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to test the final design of the single throttle with simplified engine displays. Fourteen airline pilots evaluated the single throttle and engine display concept. Electric engine failures included one, four symmetric, and eight non-symmetric electric engine failures. The turbine engine was evaluated for complete and partial failure during critical phases of flight to include takeoff as well as enroute. Unexpected go-arounds increase workload and require significant throttle manipulation. Go-arounds were included to ensure the single throttle was usable for all phases of flight. Failures during takeoff required a return to the departure field and failures enroute required a diversion except for one and four electric engine failures as these failures did not affect aircraft flyability or range. There are currently no Part 25 aircraft certified with hybrid systems or electric engines with batteries as emergency propulsion. For turbine engine failures in the SUSAN aircraft design, range is limited to 30 minutes at full power. Battery state of charge and battery health displays were developed and tested for usability and to determine how well they supported pilot decisions for alternate airports during emergency diversions. Novel displays using shape and color were developed to provide immediate feedback when state of charge became critical. This paper details the pilot study including pilot feedback supporting the potential for increased automation and a single throttle control. Detailed recommendations are provided for a novel single throttle control and additional pilot controls to support selection of engines during start, shutdown, and engine troubleshooting procedures. This design deviates significantly from current practice of providing throttles for each propulsion engine. Engine display recommendations are provided based on pilot feedback during a guided post-evaluation interview. Battery state of charge and battery health display recommendations were collected from all airline crews. The simplified engine displays design was rated excellent as measured with a usability scale. Quantitative metrics include airspeed tracking, time to complete checklists, time to make diversion decisions and the quality of the diversion decision. Recommendations for future studies are documented with supporting research and current observations about upcoming flight deck certifications.

autothrottle↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flight Deck Design of a Hybrid Turbine/Electric Passenger Aircraft

NASA is exploring the development of a 180-passenger subsonic single engine aft turbine aircraft, The aft turbine provides electric power in a hybrid design to wing mounted electric engines, creating a highly efficient, high-bypass-ratio fan equivalent. The SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) aircraft is being developed as a sustainable subsonic regional aircraft that seeks to reduce emission levels by 50% in the next few decades. Pilot-in-the-loop studies were conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to explore the flight deck design for the hybrid electric aircraft. Following modern trends in commercial aircraft flight decks with full time augmented controls and a quiet and dark philosophy, single throttle and simplified engine displays were developed for the SUSAN aircraft. The aircraft includes a single aft mounted turbine engine and 16 wing mounted electric fans. The final design was developed from feedback received during an earlier pilot-in-the-loop study where one, two, and three throttles were tested in standard airline operations, including various failures of the turbine and electric engines. Current flight deck designs normally provide control inceptors for each propulsion engine and an engine display for all primary aircraft engine parameters. With full time augmentation expected, a single throttle control with autothrottle always engaged, even during failures, is desired. Augmentation of flight controls using distributed thrust also requires full time control of the electric engines using automation. Additionally, electric engine thrust is augmented during climb based on battery state of charge. Thrust augmentation changes faster than human reaction time and therefore requires full-time automation. A pilot-in-the-loop study was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to test the final design of the single throttle with simplified engine displays. Fourteen airline pilots evaluated the single throttle and engine display concept. Electric engine failures included one, four symmetric, and eight non-symmetric electric engine failures. The turbine engine was evaluated for complete and partial failure during critical phases of flight to include takeoff as well as enroute. Unexpected go-arounds increase workload and require significant throttle manipulation. Go-arounds were included to ensure the single throttle was usable for all phases of flight. Failures during takeoff required a return to the departure field and failures enroute required a diversion except for one and four electric engine failures as these failures did not affect aircraft flyability or range. There are currently no Part 25 aircraft certified with hybrid systems or electric engines with batteries as emergency propulsion. For turbine engine failures in the SUSAN aircraft design, range is limited to 30 minutes at full power. Battery state of charge and battery health displays were developed and tested for usability and to determine how well they supported pilot decisions for alternate airports during emergency diversions. Novel displays using shape and color were developed to provide immediate feedback when state of charge became critical. This paper details the pilot study including pilot feedback supporting the potential for increased automation and a single throttle control. Detailed recommendations are provided for a novel single throttle control and additional pilot controls to support selection of engines during start, shutdown, and engine troubleshooting procedures. This design deviates significantly from current practice of providing throttles for each propulsion engine. Engine display recommendations are provided based on pilot feedback during a guided post-evaluation interview. Battery state of charge and battery health display recommendations were collected from all airline crews. The simplified engine displays design was rated excellent as measured with a usability scale. Quantitative metrics include airspeed tracking, time to complete checklists, time to make diversion decisions and the quality of the diversion decision. Recommendations for future studies are documented with supporting research and current observations about upcoming flight deck certifications.

autothrottle↗

NASA NTRS2013

Flight Deck Technologies to Enable NextGen Low Visibility Surface Operations

Many key capabilities are being identified to enable Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), including the concept of Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) . replicating the capacity and safety of today.s visual flight rules (VFR) in all-weather conditions. NASA is striving to develop the technologies and knowledge to enable EVO and to extend EVO towards a Better-Than-Visual operational concept. This operational concept envisions an .equivalent visual. paradigm where an electronic means provides sufficient visual references of the external world and other required flight references on flight deck displays that enable Visual Flight Rules (VFR)-like operational tempos while maintaining and improving safety of VFR while using VFR-like procedures in all-weather conditions. The Langley Research Center (LaRC) has recently completed preliminary research on flight deck technologies for low visibility surface operations. The work assessed the potential of enhanced vision and airport moving map displays to achieve equivalent levels of safety and performance to existing low visibility operational requirements. The work has the potential to better enable NextGen by perhaps providing an operational credit for conducting safe low visibility surface operations by use of the flight deck technologies.

Prinzel, Lawrence (Lance) J., III↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flight Deck Design of a Hybrid Turbine/Electric Aircraft

The SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) program is being developed as a sustainable subsonic regional aircraft. NASA is conducting trade studies for this future hybrid single aisle passenger aircraft. The goal of reducing emission levels by 50% will be enabled through an advanced design. An aft mounted single turbine engine provides thrust and electric power to drive 16 wing mounted electric engines. Using the 16 counter-rotating electric fans will create an efficient, very high bypass ratio, engine. Electric engines allow for distributed thrust, reducing control surfaces and provide a greater dynamic response. Batteries provide boost for takeoff and climb, allowing a smaller, more efficient, turbine engine. As part of the SUSAN effort, two pilot-in-the-loop studies were conducted at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia to explore flight deck design issues. In particular: how many throttles are required/desired for a 17-engine aircraft, does the hybrid electric design change the answer, what are the requirements for electric engine displays, what system pages are required, and what information is required to monitor the batteries. Objective and subjective data were collected after each scenario and at the end of the day with a guided set of questionnaires from sixteen crews paired by airline. Data along with pilot comments were used to improve the throttle and engine displays between the studies and used to make the final recommendations on flight deck configurations. This paper provides final design recommendations for the SUSAN flight deck and justification for each recommendation.

PAI↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TASAR: Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests NASA Flight Deck Application for En Route Flight Optimization

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

TASAR↗

NASA NTRS1997

Free Flight and Self-Separation from the Flight Deck Perspective

The concept of "free flight", while still being developed, is intended to emphasize more, flexibility for operators in the National Airspace System (NAS) by providing more separation responsibility to pilots, New technologies, procedures, and concepts have been suggested by the aviation community to enable this task; however, much work needs to be accomplished to help define and evaluate the concept feasibility. The purpose of this simulation was to begin examining some of the communication and procedural issues associated with self-separation in the enroute environment. A simulation demonstration was conducted in the Boeing 747-400 simulator at NASA Ames Research Center. Commercial pilots (from a U.S. domestic carrier) current on the B747-400 aircraft were the participants. Ten flight crews (10 captains, 10 first officers) flew in the Denver enroute airspace environment. A new alerting logic designed to allow for airborne self-separation was created for this demonstration. This logic assumes automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) capability and represented aircraft up to 120 nautical miles on the display. The new flight deck display features were designed and incorporated on the existing navigational display in the simulator to allow for increased traffic and maneuvering information to the flight crew. New tools were also provided to allow the crews to assess conflicts and potential maneuvers before implementing them. Each of the flight crews flew eight different scenarios in the Denver enroute airspace. The scenarios included eight to ten other aircraft, and each scenario was created with the intent of having one of the other aircraft become an operational conflict for our simulator aircraft. Different types of conflict geometries were represented across the eight scenarios. Also, some scenarios allowed for more time to detect a potential clearance, while others allowed for less time for'detection. Additionally, the crews were asked to a ply the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) right of way rules when determining who should maneuver in a conflict situation; therefore, the scenarios were designed to test different applications of those recommendations, Data analyses include an evaluation of crew procedures and communication. The application of the VFR right-of-way rules are being explored. Timing variables are being examined to determine potential efficiency differences between scenarios and conflict types. Proximity of aircraft will be assessed as one indication of the operational safety. The intent of these evaluations is to help provide definitions and guidelines of negotiation procedures in a self-separation environment assuming automated data link technology (ADS-B). Also, definitions of likely flight crew maneuvers and application to current VFR right-of-way rules may be obtained, along with guidelines for negotiation procedures between flight crews.

Lozito, Sandra↗

NASA NTRS2012

Aircraft Configuration and Flight Crew Compliance with Procedures While Conducting Flight Deck Based Interval Management (FIM) Operations

Flight deck based Interval Management (FIM) applications using ADS-B are being developed to improve both the safety and capacity of the National Airspace System (NAS). FIM is expected to improve the safety and efficiency of the NAS by giving pilots the technology and procedures to precisely achieve an interval behind the preceding aircraft by a specific point. Concurrently but independently, Optimized Profile Descents (OPD) are being developed to help reduce fuel consumption and noise, however, the range of speeds available when flying an OPD results in a decrease in the delivery precision of aircraft to the runway. This requires the addition of a spacing buffer between aircraft, reducing system throughput. FIM addresses this problem by providing pilots with speed guidance to achieve a precise interval behind another aircraft, even while flying optimized descents. The Interval Management with Spacing to Parallel Dependent Runways (IMSPiDR) human-in-the-loop experiment employed 24 commercial pilots to explore the use of FIM equipment to conduct spacing operations behind two aircraft arriving to parallel runways, while flying an OPD during high-density operations. This paper describes the impact of variations in pilot operations; in particular configuring the aircraft, their compliance with FIM operating procedures, and their response to changes of the FIM speed. An example of the displayed FIM speeds used incorrectly by a pilot is also discussed. Finally, this paper examines the relationship between achieving airline operational goals for individual aircraft and the need for ATC to deliver aircraft to the runway with greater precision. The results show that aircraft can fly an OPD and conduct FIM operations to dependent parallel runways, enabling operational goals to be achieved efficiently while maintaining system throughput.

Shay, Rick↗