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Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.
- John Dewey
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Projects
Issues and Evidence for Flight Deck Automation
Funding Agency: Federal Aviation Administration
Background
Since automation was first introduced in airplane flight decks people have been talking and
writing about issues related to pilots using that automation. The relative importance of
issues was often measured by the number of people that were discussing them. It was clear
that a resource to identify as many of the issues as possible and provide data related to
each of them would be useful to those doing research, developing training and procedures,
and designing flight decks.
Challenge
The primary challenges were to develop a comprehensive taxonomy of issues related to the
design and use of flight deck automation and to develop a means to make the information
available about the issues useful to all who would like to use it.
Approach and Solution
Our general approach followed these objectives. In Phase 1 we reviewed literature, reviewed
accident and incident reports, conducted our own survey of pilots, and performed automation
analyses to identify flight deck automation issues. In Phase 2 we surveyed aviation experts,
reviewed literature and accident reports, and analyzed incident reports to compile data and
other objective evidence related to those issues.
Since Phase 2 was completed, we have continued to review automation-related literature,
accident reports, and incident reports for additional evidence.
Our work has yielded a list of 94 flight deck
automation human factors issues, over 1000 instances of evidence related to those issues, and
a large body of supporting information.
To make the issues, evidence, and other information
accessible to those who could use it effectively, we created a website located at
www.FlightDeckAutomation.com.
It summarizes our findings and provides a searchable database of human factors issues related
to flight deck automation. All the initial development work in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project
was accomplished in partnership with Oregon State University.
Implementation
We now maintain the database and website to keep the information current and to answer any
questions that users may have. The website has won several awards and is used regularly by
human factors researchers in industry and academia, flight deck designers, and airline
training and operations departments.
Last page update: September 18, 2007
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