Evaluation of Onboard System State and Path Awareness Technologies During Transport Operations

Even after decades of continuous use, automation surprise and mode confusion are still prevalent in commercial airline operations. Without increased awareness of the aircraft and automation future state, crews have difficulty monitoring and managing flight path leading to clearance violations and the potential for loss of separation. A pilot-in-the-loop flight simulation study was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center to evaluate a path awareness display technology concept called “Automation Does What?” and an automation configuration display technology concept called “Automation Function Configuration Display”. The two technologies were evaluated and contrasted with a current state-of-the-art flight deck modeled from the Boeing B-787 using guided discussion and pilot comments. Objective and subjective data were collected from aircraft parameters, questionnaires, audio/video recordings, head/eye tracking data, and subject matter expert observations.