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Cognitive Engineering in Training: Monitoring and Pilot-Automation Coordination in Complex Environments

This paper reports our investigation of flight path monitoring in aviation. We interviewed experienced pilots to understand the knowledge and skills underlying effective monitoring and we developed an example learning environment to improve these skills. We explore how design of pilot training and learning, like the design of interfaces and of the underlying automation, benefits from cognitive engineering methods and perspective. In aviation, monitoring and managing flight path are critical activities. The influences on flight path are complex and come from the autoflight system, from control actions by the pilot, and from external factors, including weather and Air Traffic Control (ATC). Indeed, inadequate flight path monitoring is a current aviation concern as it has been implicated in accidents and incidents. Effective piloting depends on strategies for noticing, understanding, and anticipating these influences to monitor and manage flight path. Lack of such skills reduces pilots' ability to maintain safety margin and resilience. Although flightdeck automation is intended to aid pilot understanding and prediction, the Fight Management Systems (FMS) can mislead as well as aid the pilot's understanding and projection of what will happen. In dynamic conditions, FMS predictions may be based on old or incomplete information. Understanding such vulnerabilities is an important part of pilot-autoflight coordination. The learning environment we developed is designed to help pilots proactively monitor and manage flight path. We consider how a broad cognitive engineering approach might inform the "what" and "how" of learning in dynamic work domains.

pilot-monitoring↗

NASA NTRS1973

Pitch paper pilot revisited

Two methods are described for predicting the handling qualities of an aircraft in pitch. Both methods are based on minimizing a pilot rating expression with respect to free pilot parameters. In one case the pilot rating expression was developed from a set of moving base simulation data. In the other case, the pilot rating expression was developed from a set of fixed base simulation data. In both cases pilot rating is primarily a function of pitch attitude and pitch rate; however, in the moving base case, the pilot rating is more sensitive to pitch rate than in the fixed base case. For each method, predicted pilot ratings and performance measures agree well with the measured data corresponding to that case. Both methods are used to predict pilot ratings for a set of flight test configurations and the results of the two methods agree to within one half a rating unit. The predicted ratings in both cases correlate well with the actual pilot ratings from the flight tests.

Arnold, J. D.↗

NASA NTRS1987

A simulation evaluation of a pilot interface with an automatic terminal approach system

The pilot-machine interface with cockpit automation is a critical factor in achieving the benefits of automation and reducing pilot blunders. To improve this interface, an automatic terminal approach system (ATAS) was conceived that can automatically fly a published instrument approach by using stored instrument approach data to automatically tune airplane radios and control an airplane autopilot and autothrottle. The emphasis in the ATAS concept is a reduction in pilot blunders and work load by improving the pilot-automation interface. A research prototype of an ATAS was developed and installed in the Langley General Aviation Simulator. A piloted simulation study of the ATAS concept showed fewer pilot blunders, but no significant change in work load, when compared with a baseline heading-select autopilot mode. With the baseline autopilot, pilot blunders tended to involve loss of navigational situational awareness or instrument misinterpretation. With the ATAS, pilot blunders tended to involve a lack of awareness of the current ATAS mode state or deficiencies in the pilots' mental model of how the system operated. The ATAS display provided adequate approach status data to maintain situational awareness.

Hinton, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

A simulator investigation of the use of digital data link for pilot/ATC communications in a single pilot operation

Studies have shown that radio communications between pilots and air traffic control contribute to high pilot workload and are subject to various errors. These errors result from congestion on the voice radio channel, and missed and misunderstood messages. The use of digital data link has been proposed as a means of reducing this workload and error rate. A critical factor, however, in determining the potential benefit of data link will be the interface between future data link systems and the operator of those systems, both in the air and on the ground. The purpose of this effort was to evaluate the pilot interface with various levels of data link capability, in simulated general aviation, single-pilot instrument flight rule operations. Results show that the data link reduced demands on pilots' short-term memory, reduced the number of communication transmissions, and permitted the pilots to more easily allocate time to critical cockpit tasks while receiving air traffic control messages. The pilots who participated unanimously indicated a preference for data link communications over voice-only communications. There were, however, situations in which the pilot preferred the use of voice communications, and the ability for pilots to delay processing the data link messages, during high workload events, caused delays in the acknowledgement of messages to air traffic control.

Hinton, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Autogenic-feedback training improves pilot performance during emergency flying conditions

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. The effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance was examined. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group comprised four pilots of HC-130 Hercules aircraft and four HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group comprised three pilots of HC-130's and six Dolphin helicopter pilots. During an initial flight physiological data were recorded for each crewmember and individual crew performance and rated by an instructor pilot. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFT). The remaining subjects received no training. During a second flight, treatment subjects showed significant improvement in performance, while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFT management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Kellar, Michael A.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Autogenic-feedback training improves pilot performance during emergency flying conditions

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group comprised three pilots of HC-130 Hercules aircraft and four HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group comprised three pilots of HC-130's and six Dolphin helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded for each crew member and individual crew performance was rated by an instructor pilot. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFT). The remaining subjects received no training. During a second flight, treatment subjects showed significant improvement in performance, while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFT management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Kellar, Michael A.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Cognitive models of pilot categorization and prioritization of flight-deck information

In the past decade, automated systems on modern commercial flight decks have increased dramatically. Pilots now regularly interact and share tasks with these systems. This interaction has led human factors research to direct more attention to the pilot's cognitive processing and mental model of the information flow occurring on the flight deck. The experiment reported herein investigated how pilots mentally represent and process information typically available during flight. Fifty-two commercial pilots participated in tasks that required them to provide similarity ratings for pairs of flight-deck information and to prioritize this information under two contextual conditions. Pilots processed the information along three cognitive dimensions. These dimensions included the flight function and the flight action that the information supported and how frequently pilots refer to the information. Pilots classified the information as aviation, navigation, communications, or systems administration information. Prioritization results indicated a high degree of consensus among pilots, while scaling results revealed two dimensions along which information is prioritized. Pilot cognitive workload for flight-deck tasks and the potential for using these findings to operationalize cognitive metrics are evaluated. Such measures may be useful additions for flight-deck human performance evaluation.

Jonsson, Jon E.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Pilot Non-Conformance to Alerting System Commands During Closely Spaced Parallel Approaches

Cockpit alerting systems monitor potentially hazardous situations, both inside and outside the aircraft. When a hazard is projected to occur, the alerting system displays alerts and/or command decisions to the pilot. However, pilots have been observed to not conform to alerting system commands by delaying their response or by not following the automatic commands exactly. This non-conformance to the automatic alerting system can reduce its benefit. Therefore, a need exists to understand the causes and effects of pilot non-conformance in order to develop automatic alerting systems whose commands the pilots are more likely to follow. These considerations were examined through flight simulator evaluations of the collision avoidance task during closely spaced parallel approaches. This task provided a useful case-study because the effects of non-conformance can be significant, given the time-critical nature of the task. A preliminary evaluation of alerting systems identified non-conformance in over 40% of the cases and a corresponding drop in collision avoidance performance. A follow-on experiment found subjects' alerting and maneuver selection criteria were consistent with different strategies than those used by automatic systems, indicating the pilot may potentially disagree with the alerting system if the pilot attempts to verify automatic alerts and commanded avoidance maneuvers. A final experiment found supporting automatic alerts with the explicit display of its underlying criteria resulted in more consistent subject reactions. In light of these experimental results, a general discussion of pilot non-conformance is provided. Contributing factors in pilot non-conformance include a lack of confidence in the automatic system and mismatches between the alerting system's commands and the pilots' own decisions based on the information available to them. The effects of non-conformance on system performance are discussed. Possible methods of reconciling mismatches are given, and design considerations for alerting systems which alleviate the problem of non-conformance are provided.

Pritchett, Amy Ruth↗

NASA NTRS2000

Neural Network Based Representation of UH-60A Pilot and Hub Accelerations

Neural network relationships between the full-scale, experimental hub accelerations and the corresponding pilot floor vertical vibration are studied. The present physics-based, quantitative effort represents an initial systematic study on the UH-60A Black Hawk hub accelerations. The NASA/Army UH-60A Airloads Program flight test database was used. A 'maneuver-effect-factor (MEF)', derived using the roll-angle and the pitch-rate, was used. Three neural network based representation-cases were considered. The pilot floor vertical vibration was considered in the first case and the hub accelerations were separately considered in the second case. The third case considered both the hub accelerations and the pilot floor vertical vibration. Neither the advance ratio nor the gross weight alone could be used to predict the pilot floor vertical vibration. However, the advance ratio and the gross weight together could be used to predict the pilot floor vertical vibration over the entire flight envelope. The hub accelerations data were modeled and found to be of very acceptable quality. The hub accelerations alone could not be used to predict the pilot floor vertical vibration. Thus, the hub accelerations alone do not drive the pilot floor vertical vibration. However, the hub accelerations, along with either the advance ratio or the gross weight or both, could be used to satisfactorily predict the pilot floor vertical vibration. The hub accelerations are clearly a factor in determining the pilot floor vertical vibration.

Kottapalli, Sesi↗

NASA NTRS1997

Variations Among Pilots from Different Flight Operations in Party Line Information Requirements for Situation Awareness

Current air traffic control communications use shared VHF voice frequencies from which pilots can obtain 'party line' information (PLI) by overhearing communications addressed to other aircraft. Previous studies have shown that pilots perceive PLI to be important. There is concern that some critical PLI may be lost in the proposed data link environment, where communications will be discretely addressed. Different types of flight operations will be equipped with data link equipment at different times, generating a mixed environment in which some pilots will rely on PLI, while others will receive their information by data link. To research the importance, availability, and accuracy of PLI and to query pilots on the information they feel is necessary for global situation awareness, a survey was distributed to pilots. The pilots were selected from four flight operation groups to study the variations in PLI requirements in the mixed data link environment. Pilots perceived PLI to be important overall, with specific traffic and weather information elements identified as critical. Most PLI elements followed a pattern of higher perceived importance during terminal area operations, final approach, and landing. Pilots from the different flight operation groups identified some elements as particularly important. In a free-response question designed to identify the information requirements for global situation awareness, pilots frequently indicated a need for traffic and weather information. The results of this survey reveal specific concerns to be addressed when implementing data link communications.

Pritchett, Amy↗

NASA NTRS2010

HOPE: An On-Line Piloted Handling Qualities Experiment Data Book

A novel on-line database for capturing most of the information obtained during piloted handling qualities experiments (either flight or simulated) is described. The Hyperlinked Overview of Piloted Evaluations (HOPE) web application is based on an open-source object-oriented Web-based front end (Ruby-on-Rails) that can be used with a variety of back-end relational database engines. The hyperlinked, on-line data book approach allows an easily-traversed way of looking at a variety of collected data, including pilot ratings, pilot information, vehicle and configuration characteristics, test maneuvers, and individual flight test cards and repeat runs. It allows for on-line retrieval of pilot comments, both audio and transcribed, as well as time history data retrieval and video playback. Pilot questionnaires are recorded as are pilot biographies. Simple statistics are calculated for each selected group of pilot ratings, allowing multiple ways to aggregate the data set (by pilot, by task, or by vehicle configuration, for example). Any number of per-run or per-task metrics can be captured in the database. The entire run metrics dataset can be downloaded in comma-separated text for further analysis off-line. It is expected that this tool will be made available upon request

Jackson, E. B.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Sitting in the Pilot's Seat; Optimizing Human-Systems Interfaces for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

One of the pilot-machine interfaces (the forward viewing camera display) for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle called the DROID (Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone) will be analyzed for optimization. The goal is to create a visual display for the pilot that as closely resembles an out-the-window view as possible. There are currently no standard guidelines for designing pilot-machine interfaces for UAVs. Typically, UAV camera views have a narrow field, which limits the situational awareness (SA) of the pilot. Also, at this time, pilot-UAV interfaces often use displays that have a diagonal length of around 20". Using a small display may result in a distorted and disproportional view for UAV pilots. Making use of a larger display and a camera lens with a wider field of view may minimize the occurrences of pilot error associated with the inability to see "out the window" as in a manned airplane. It is predicted that the pilot will have a less distorted view of the DROID s surroundings, quicker response times and more stable vehicle control. If the experimental results validate this concept, other UAV pilot-machine interfaces will be improved with this design methodology.

Queen, Steven M.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Pilot Evaluation of a UAS Detect-and-Avoid System's Effectiveness in Remaining Well Clear

Unmanned aircraft will equip with a detect-and-avoid (DAA) system that allows them to comply with the requirement to see and avoid other aircraft, an important layer in the overall set of procedural, strategic and tactical separation methods designed to prevent mid-air collisions. Although the effectiveness of the DAA system will be set to a minimum threshold by regulators, different combinations of algorithms, displays and procedures could be used to meet that minimum. The research presented in this paper indicates the effectiveness of the combined pilot-DAA system as a function of the DAA design requirements and provides data that may be used to model the behavior of pilots when employing such systems. Over the course of two simulations 21 professional UAS pilots evaluated eight different DAA system designs and metrics were collected on their ability to maintain the well clear separation standard. The independent variables were the time horizon at which pilots were alerted to potential losses of well clear, the location of the traffic display, and the tools and informational elements available on the display to aid the pilot in detecting and resolving those potential losses. In the second experiment the UAS encountered two categories of aircraft: those equipped with simulated transponders that could be seen dozens of miles away and those without that were only detectable by a simulated radar within a range of six nautical miles. The data indicate that integrating the traffic display with the primary mission map directly in front of the pilot reduced the frequency of losses of well clear. Improved detection and resolution tools, including explicit maneuver guidance and a trial planning capability, had less of an effect in reducing the frequency of losses but significantly reduced the time in loss when they occurred. The amount of warning time provided to the pilot had a strong effect on their ability to remain well clear: when alerts were first presented with less than about 15 seconds to a predicted loss of well clear pilots were able to maneuver successfully in only 26 percent of encounters, whereas they were about 83 percent successful when they had more than 15 seconds. Pilots' ability to separate from the two categories of aircraft was nearly the same after accounting for the amount of alert time provided in each encounter, although the limited surveillance volume for the non-transponder equipped aircraft meant alerts tended to occur later and therefore were more difficult to resolve.

loss of well clear↗

NASA NTRS2019

Pilot Evaluation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria for Transport Category Aircraft

The primary objective of this study was to capture pilot feedback and decision-making with regard to proposed, hypothetical, go-around criteria that were developed based on previous research. A secondary objective of the study was to assess crew members' awareness of the aircraft state on approach. An experiment was conducted using Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A330-200 level D full-flight simulators, in which pilots flew multiple approaches which were on the borderline of the proposed go-around criteria at 300 ft. Pilots were instructed that they could either execute a go-around or land the airplane on each run, forcing a decision for the borderline cases at 300 ft. Pilots were instructed to go around if the aircraft was outside of the go-around criteria at 300 ft or if either pilot was uncomfortable with the approach. The results revealed that: 1) the most important factors which drove go-around decision-making during the experiment were airspeed and localizer deviation, 2) the objective data suggested that the 300-ft gate is viable, although many pilots were still uncomfortable with that gate height; perhaps more emphasis on checking stability at 1,000 ft and 500 ft would make more pilots comfortable with the 300-ft go-around gate, 3) allowing for momentary deviations should be considered, and 4) the acceptability of the criteria is highly dependent on given pilot's risk tolerance. Overall, the proposed criteria performed well, and most pilots would find the criteria acceptable with some minor adjustments.

go-arounds↗

NASA NTRS2017

Characterization of Pilot Technique

Skilled pilots often use pulse control when controlling higher order (i.e. acceleration-command) vehicle dynamics. Pulsing does not produce a stick response that resembles what the human Crossover Model predicts. The Crossover Model (CM) assumes the pilot provides compensation necessary (lead or lag) such that the suite of display-human-vehicle approximates an integrator in the region of crossover frequency. However, it is shown that the CM does appear to drive the pilots pulsing behavior in a very predictable manner. Roughly speaking, the pilot generates pulses such that the area under the pulse (pulse amplitude multiplied by pulse width) is approximately equal to area under the hypothetical CM output. This can allow a pilot to employ constant amplitude pulsing so that only the pulse duration (width) is modulated a drastic simplification over the demands of continuous tracking. A pilot pulse model is developed, with which the parameters of the pilots internally-generated CM can be computed in real time for pilot monitoring and display compensation. It is also demonstrated that pursuit tracking may be activated when pulse control is employed.

rotorcraft↗

NASA NTRS2022

Functional Allocation Approach for Separation Assurance for Remotely Piloted Aircraft

A functional analysis framework is employed with the objective of exploring the separation assurance function for the remotely piloted aircraft system. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system—highlighting several of the component systems and the functions resident onboard the remotely piloted aircraft and in the ground control station—is described to provide the context for understanding the complexity of the said system for a detailed functional analysis. The interactions between the agents of the separation assurance function belonging to the air traffic service provider, remotely piloted aircraft system operator and remotely piloted aircraft are described. Separation assurance by air traffic control, remain well clear by the remotely piloted aircraft system and collision avoidance onboard the remotely piloted aircraft are briefly discussed. The functional analysis framework is illustrated by relating the agents to the actions of (a) acquiring the surveillance information, (b) checking for conflicts, (c) creating the solutions for resolving conflicts and (d) implementing the conflict resolution solutions. This example is offered as a template by which a more detailed functional analysis of this and other functions could be developed. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system is described to aid this process.

functional analysis↗

NASA NTRS2022

Functional Allocation Approach for Separation Assurance for Remotely Piloted Aircraft

Functional analysis↗

NASA NTRS1979

Cockpit displays of traffic information: Airline pilots opinions about content, symbology, and format

A number of candidate computer-generated cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTI) displays and display options were simulated statically and were shown to 23 airline pilots who were asked to respond to more than 250 questions about them. The pilots indicated that the amount and complexity of navigation information displayed should increase with altitude and map scale. Terrain information should appear automatically if a pilot's own aircraft descends below the minimum safe altitude and should include only those obstruction within 2,000 ft or less. Few pilots that weather information should be displayed on a CDTI, but if it was, it should be at pilot request only. A chevron-shaped symbol, located so that the majority of the map area was ahead was preferred. The position, altitude, ground speed, ground track, weight class, and flightpath history of other aircraft should be presented graphically by coding the shape of the symbol for other aircraft or presented digitally in data tags displayed at pilot request. All pilots thought that color coding was necessary to recognize different categories of information quickly and accurately. The majority of pilots felt that a CDTI would provide useful information even though its presence might increase their workload somewhat particularly during its introductory stages.

Hart, S. G.↗