Slashdot Mirror
Gaugeless, Computerized Cockpits
CriX writes "There's been some work on creating a more intuitive airplane cockpit. The idea is to use graphics and symbols instead of gauges and numbers to enhance a pilot's awareness. The data shows that these are a lot easier to read under turbulence and the information easier to interpret for less experience pilots. Sweet, I love human factors engineering."
Actually, the article suggests that the potential markets for this technology is the Navy or NASA. I doubt that he's even going to try to get this in jetliners so you won't have to worry about it affecting your airline seat price.
However, I agree that this article does fail to make any cost/benefit analysis, which is the point I think you are trying to make.
GMD
watch this
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CRASH/JFK _JR/upi.html
According to this, visibility was 8 miles. He was a VFR rated pilot in VFR conditions. I could understand him saying that a VFR pilot that ran into IFR might have a better chance with this system, but you are right, he is full of shit, if a pilot is getting fixated on a single indicator in VFR conditions, he's got bigger problems.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
In a 737 for example, the gauges are all in the same place for the same model (737-300 or whatever).
New display/guages means new training. This is the FAA, and the secure flying of millions of people every year that we are talking about. There is no other choice but to re-train the pilots.
In computer terms, think of the change from OS 9 to OS X. Different but better, right? Depends who you ask (me says OS X better). Either way, it took time for people to adapt to the "new way" to do things.
I don't want a pilot "learning" as he/she flys me at 530mph at 30,000 feet off the ground.
Fly-by-wire aircraft use computers all the time. There are backups for many real-time systems used for this purpose, and after nearly thirty years, these are proven products. The space-shuttle is a very good example of this. Early space-shuttle control systems were a nightmare of guages and displays. Now, it's a very refined system, with an emphasis on what the crew needs to know instead of some instrumentation jockey's wet-dream.
Many new aircraft are equipped with the MFD's (multi-function displays) that the military has had for decades (in one form or another) and it's about time. Most of the work done in this field is done for military use.
Anyone can bitch all they want, but when Betty starts squawking you listen and when you look at your panel you need to know exactly what's wrong. MFD's do that better than any analog guage. Combine advances in data delivery with multiple bioinformatics and a pilot will have a nearly intuitive understanding of what's going on.
I don't see a downside here, since everything is going to be exhaustively tested before it's permitted to move mass quantities of crunchy humans from one shopping spot to another. It's going to be some time before the really cool stuff finds its way into public transportation. Personally, I'm still waiting for a civilian version of a HUD, because what passes for useful car instrumentation blows (looking through the gaps in the steering wheel for data sucks) and from a consumer point-of-view, nothing addresses this shortcomming (not even that bs Cadillac thermal display).
Cheers.
Every new form of media has it's own Requirimento
I am a glider pilot. I must digress. I prefer numbers. Since I have enough hours in an SGS 2-33, I know what the guages are measuring without seeing the numbers. I only need needle position. BUT, the numbers are there when I need them. Seeing the needle at about 7000 feet is good, but I NEED to see 1,500 feet exactly when I start my pattern, or 3,500 to enter the start gate.
As for glass cockpits/ fly by wire, these are no different from normal analog cockpits, except the info happens to be on a screen. The guages, buttons, and controls are all in the same place, and they all look the same. They just happen to be on a screen. Next time you fly Southwest, you will probably fly on both the 737-700(glass) and the -300 (analog). They are the same. The instruments in use now ARE symbolic. The altimeter forms one shape for about 4000 feet, and another for about 14000. But the important numbers are there when I need them. I prefer what I have now.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
The computers used in cars, planes, and now some dishwashers are not really designed to last any longer than a PC. They are designed to do ONE thing; monitor this or regulate that, they do this one task well and with out fail. PCs are merely supped up versions of these computers but they are being asked to do dozens of different tasks all at once. It is when the programs doing these tasks don't cooperate with one another that results in computer crashing.