Pilot Navigation Errors on the Airport Surface: Identifying Contributing Factors and Mitigating Solutions

Abstract

A taxonomy of navigation er r or s (pilot deviations) dur ing taxi oper ations was developed that defines 3 classes of er r or s: planning, decision, and execution err or s. This taxonomy was applied to er r or data fr om 2 full-mission simulation studies (Hooey, Foyle, Andr e, & Par ke, 2000;McCann et al., 1998) that included tr ials that r eplicated cur r ent-day oper ations and tr ials with advanced cockpit technologies including datalink, electr onic moving maps (EMM), and head-up displays (HUDs). Pilots committed navigation er r or s on 17% of cur r ent-day oper ations tr ials (in low-visibility and night), distr ibuted r oughly equally acr oss the 3 er r or classes. Each er r or class was associated with a unique set of contr ibuting factor s and mitigating solutions. Planning er r or s wer e mitigated by technologies that pr ovided an unambiguous r ecor d of the clear ance (datalink and the EMM, which possessed a text-based clear ance). Decision er r or s wer e mitigated by technologies that pr ovided both local and global awar eness including information about the distance to and dir ection of the next tur n, cur r ent ownship location, and a gr aphical depiction of the r oute (as pr ovided by the EMM and HUD together ). Execution er r or s wer e best mitigated by the HUD, which disambiguated the envir onment and depicted the clear ed taxi r oute. Implications for technology design and integr ation ar e pr ovided.

Synthetic Vision Enhanced Surface Operations With Head-Worn Display for Commercial Aircraft

“…Simulation data were analyzed to pinpoint the mechanisms by which T-NASA technology components could mitigate classes of surface operations navigation errors (pilot deviations) (Hooey & Foyle, 2006). A taxonomy of 3 error classes was used.…”

Design and testing of an unlimited field-of-regard synthetic vision head-worn display for commercial aircraft surface operations

“…Unlike fixed field of view (FOV) sensors, the camera position and orientation for Synthetic Vision can be defined via software; thus, an unlimited field-of-regard is achieved since the Synthetic Vision scene is viewable from any virtual camera angle. The advantages of the full color, Head Tracked -Head Worn Display (HT-HWD) can directly address the HUD limitations shown in RIPS 2 and T-NASA 3,4,5,6 testing. As such, a study was conducted to determine the efficacy of a HT-HWD in a complex taxiing task in a fixed-based simulator.…”

Synthetic vision enhanced surface operations and flight procedures rehearsal tool

“…Additionally, NASA LaRC's Runway Incursion Prevention System (RIPS) 7 and NASA Ames's Taxiway Navigation and Situation Awareness (T-NASA) system 8,9,10,11 conducted several flight and simulation experiments evaluating cockpit display technology to enable improved and safer surface operations. Both the RIPS and T-NASA concepts used a HUD and a head down display including an electronic moving map (EMM).…”

“…Previous research has shown that a HUD can significantly enhance SA for surface operations; however, due to the HUD's fixed field-of-regard and limited FOV, intuitively portraying turns on the HUD can be difficult 10 . Further, information clutter is a driving constraint for the monochromatic HUD.…”

“…Though EFBs are emerging for surface operations, current regulations require the use of paper charts and Class 2 moving map EFBs which do not mitigate many issues in today's complex surface operations. (For an unfamiliar airport, a complex airfield can make taxiing a challenging task for the pilot 10 ).…”