Abstract
Twenty-four subjects (seven ATC specialists and 17 pilots trained in fundamental ATC skills), performed a simulation in which they were required to evaluate pilot requests for flight plan changes, issued by aircraft depicted on their display. Some requests could be safely granted, whereas others would bring about a mid-air conflict with other aircraft. Subjects evaluated the requests in the context of an airspace depicted on either a conventional 2D planar display or a 3D perspective display. Requests were presented either as voice messages or were displayed visually, as if relayed via data-link, either printed at the bottom of the display or represented as vectors, emanating in the requested direction from the requesting aircraft. The results indicated that performance was generally equivalent with the 2D and the 3D display and was best with the auditory-verbal request mode. It was considerably slower with the print mode, presumably because of the greater scanning required. The spatial vector mode offered performance that was faster than print, but considerably less accurate. Particular deficiencies were noticed with the vector mode when it was used to present complex 3-dimensional requests in the context of the 3-dimensional display.
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