Effects of scenery, lighting, glideslope, and experience on timing the landing flare.

Palmisano, Stephen; Favelle, Simone K; Sachtler, W L

doi:10.1037/a0012659

“…Evidence suggests that the TTC, or optical variable tau that describes the relative velocity of an optical image expanding across the retina, can be registered directly by the human eye [10][11][12]. Normally, pilots obtain many (visual) cues to adopt a correct timing and control strategy.…”

Section: Flare Initiation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictive Landing Guidance in Synthetic Vision Displays

Arents

¹

,

Groeneweg

²

,

Mulder

³

2009

AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference

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Pilot manual path-following performance with synthetic vision displays can be improved with predictive guidance symbols. Little is known, however, on how these predictive guidance concepts can be applied to the landing flare maneuver. This paper discusses the applicability of 3D predictive guidance in synthetic vision displays during the final phase of the landing. Two types of predictive guidance were examined, the Flight-Path Predictor that indicates the aircraft's future position a certain time ahead, and the Flight Trajectory Predictor that presents the future trajectory by interpolating a number of sequential predicted positions. A theoretical investigation and an offline simulation were used to optimize the two guidance laws for the manual landing task. A pilot-in-the-loop experiment, conducted in a moving-base flight simulator, indicated that both predictive guidance types investigated support pilots in manual control. The pilot's ability to determine the correct flare initiation time is improved, and becomes comparable to timing the flare with a more realistic synthetic vision display with textured surfaces. Even though the flare initiation timing was improved by the addition of predictive guidance, the control of the flare after its initiation was not sufficiently supported. As a result, no noticeable improvement in landing performance was found.

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“…However, it is an important factor, especially in the sagittal plane, for pilots landing an aircraft. Optic flow cues such as the focus of expansion, the point from which the movement of all points in the field expand out during linear self-motion, are useful when landing an aircraft (Gibson et al 1955 ) and for determining the timing of the ‘flare’, the point where a pilot ‘levels out’ to avoid impacting the ground (Palmisano et al 2008 ). Studies show that humans are less accurate at judging vertical heading with discrimination thresholds of 2.5°–3° (Palmisano and Gillam 2005 ) and also less precise (Palmisano and Gillam 2005 ; MacNeilage et al 2010 ) than horizontal heading.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since previous research on landing approaches has focused on already-trained participants (Palmisano and Gillam 2005 ; Gibb et al 2008 ; Kim et al 2010 ), humans’ innate ability to gauge approach angles, i.e., vertical heading direction in the sagittal plane, and the effect of training on such judgements, is still unknown. During training, pilots are taught to use the focus of expansion as their ‘aim-point’ (Palmisano et al 2008 ) and to use this point to gauge their rate of descent. Closely following Palmisano and Gillam’s ( 2005 ) vertical heading detection threshold task, we measured people’s baseline vertical heading judgement ability prior to providing training on a flight simulator program.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of training on the perceived approach angle in visual vertical heading judgements in a virtual environment

Gibson

¹

,

Kim

²

,

McManus

³

et al. 2020

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Past studies have found poorer performance on vertical heading judgement accuracy compared to horizontal heading judgement accuracy. In everyday life, precise vertical heading judgements are used less often than horizontal heading judgements as we cannot usually control our vertical direction. However, pilots judging a landing approach need to consistently discriminate vertical heading angles to land safely. This study addresses the impact of training on participants' ability to judge their touchdown point relative to a target in a virtual environment with a clearly defined ground plane and horizon. Thirty-one participants completed a touchdown point estimation task twice, using three angles of descent (3°, 6° and 9°). In between the two testing tasks, half of the participants completed a flight simulator landing training task which provided feedback on their vertical heading performance; while, the other half completed a two-dimensional puzzle game as a control. Overall, participants were more precise in their responses in the second testing compared to the first (from a SD of ± 0.91° to ± 0.67°), but only the experimental group showed improvement in accuracy (from a mean error of − 2.1° to − 0.6°). Our results suggest that with training, vertical heading judgments can be as accurate as horizontal heading judgments. This study is the first to show the effectiveness of training in vertical heading judgement in naïve individuals. The results are applicable in the field of aviation, informing possible strategies for pilot training.

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“…A manually executed flare is therefore by nature a multivariable control task that requires precise coupling between timing (initiation) and action (force on the control(s)) [10,11]. The coupling between timing and action increases the task difficulty, but it has as benefit the provided trained operators with a compensation option.…”

Section: The Flare Maneuvermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence suggests that the TTC, or optical variable tau that describes the relative velocity of an optical image expanding across the retina, can be registered directly by the human eye [10][11][12]. Normally, pilots obtain many (visual) cues to adopt a correct timing and control strategy.…”

Section: Flare Initiation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictive Landing Guidance in Synthetic Vision Displays

Mulder¹

2011

TOAEJ

7

0

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Pilot manual path-following performance with synthetic vision displays can be improved with predictive guidance symbols. Little is known, however, on how these predictive guidance concepts can be applied to the landing flare maneuver. This paper discusses the applicability of 3D predictive guidance in synthetic vision displays during the final phase of the landing. Two types of predictive guidance were examined, the Flight-Path Predictor that indicates the aircraft's future position a certain time ahead, and the Flight Trajectory Predictor that presents the future trajectory by interpolating a number of sequential predicted positions. A theoretical investigation and an offline simulation were used to optimize the two guidance laws for the manual landing task. A pilot-in-the-loop experiment, conducted in a moving-base flight simulator, indicated that both predictive guidance types investigated support pilots in manual control. The pilot's ability to determine the correct flare initiation time is improved, and becomes comparable to timing the flare with a more realistic synthetic vision display with textured surfaces. Even though the flare initiation timing was improved by the addition of predictive guidance, the control of the flare after its initiation was not sufficiently supported. As a result, no noticeable improvement in landing performance was found.

show abstract

Effects of scenery, lighting, glideslope, and experience on timing the landing flare.

Cited by 10 publications

References 34 publications

Predictive Landing Guidance in Synthetic Vision Displays

Predictive Landing Guidance in Synthetic Vision Displays

The effect of training on the perceived approach angle in visual vertical heading judgements in a virtual environment

Predictive Landing Guidance in Synthetic Vision Displays

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