Thirty-two pilots flew instrument approaches in a high-fidelity simulator, first inside and then outside of the clouds. They used 2 symbology sets, presenting flight guidance information that was either conformal or nonconformal with the background. Half of the trials presented the symbology in a head-up location, and half presented the symbology head-down. Airspeed tracking was displayed with nonconformal digital symbology. An unexpected far domain event was presented on 1 trial per pilot. For flightpath control, there was a benefit for head-up location for conformal, but not for nonconformal symbology. The head-up display viewed over the background eliminated advantages to tracking airspeed and nonconformal symbology that had been present while in the clouds. Head-up display also produced a slower response to the far domain unexpected event. The results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of object-based and space-based theories of visual attention, and the tradeoffs between clutter of overlapping imagery and information access cost. These are incorporated in a processing model that can guide the appropriate choice of symbology for head-up displays.
Thirty-two pilots flew instrument approaches in a high-fidelity simulator. Location of flight symbology was manipulated head-up vs. headdown while controlling for optical distance and symbology format. Pilots were assigned to one of two symbology sets, conformal and nonconformal. Each pilot flew half of the trials with the symbology presented in a head-up location and half with the symbology located headdown. Airspeed tracking for both groups was displayed with non-conformal digital symbology. An unexpected far domain event was presented on one trial per pilot. The results revealed that, for flight path control, there was generally a cost associated with headdown location. The magnitude of this cost was larger for conformal than for non-conformal symbology. Head-up presentation resulted in faster transition from instrument to visual flight reference, but poorer airspeed tracking and slower response to the far domain unexpected event and greater error tracking digital airspeed. The results are interpreted with the theoretical framework of object-based and space-based theories of visual attention, and the tradeoffs between clutter of overlapping imagery and information access cost.
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