A Visual Display of Flight Time and Distance

Abstract

A flight simulation study was conducted to examine the effect of a visual display of flight time and distance added to a pathway prediction symbology on pilot's flight time management. Twelve participants flew a standard flight path with a time-constrained landing task. Some conditions such as flight under various wind and visibility levels, or instrumentation failures were also applied to the flight tests to measure performance in more challenging conditions. We measured flight's time error as our measure in this study. The results showed that participants flew more accurate flights and landed closer to the required landing time with the visual display particularly under challenging conditions. We concluded that the enhancements made to the pathway prediction display by adding the time-distance gauge supported improved flight time management and flight control.