Helicopters cannot currently use their unique capabilities under low or zero visibility conditions because they lack the necessary avionics. Rather than pursuing a fully automatic system, several systems (e.g. 3 axis flight director) were developed which were almost totally under manual control. This study used objective and subjective data to evaluate these systems under simulated zero visibility conditions for cruise and approach flight profiles. The data indicated that for almost all cases these systems increased performance and decreased workload when compared to using situation-only displays.
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