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."

Comments

When in doubt, drop a name

[GuyMannDude]

A problem with conventional instruments is that pilots, particularly inexperienced ones, sometimes fixate on one gauge and ignore others. Colburn said he suspects that was a factor when a single-engine Piper Saratoga piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed into the water south of Martha's Vineyard in July 1999. Kennedy, his wife and his sister-in-law perished in the crash. "I think if he was flying with a display like this, the OZ display, there's no way that he would have gotten in the position that he was," Colburn said.

The arrogance...geez. So Colburn suspects that the Kennedy accident was due to the pilot fixating on a single gauge. He thinks that if there was a new display there's no way that there would have been a problem.

Good grief. This is just a bunch of guesswork without any evidence or even any sound reasoning whatsoever. This guy can't make a good pitch for his new technology so he'll claim that some famous accident wouldn't have happened if they had used his technology. It really sickens me when people try to use public tragedies to make money.

GMD

Fighting inertia?

[GuyMannDude]

"The system is designed to preserve the status quo as opposed to bringing forward innovations," Temme said. "We're fighting inertia."

Well, the system is designed to maintain the status quo because it works pretty darn well. All the statistics indicate that flying is the safest form of transportation. Perhaps if (a) Temme was able to show that cockpit confusion was a problem serious enough to warrant a solution and (b) they showed with scientific studies that their new-fangled system improved the situation by a significant amount, perhaps people would listen to them. But just to claim that the reason everyone doesn't drop a system that has worked well for decades and adopt a radically new instrumentation panel is due to bureaucracy is pretty presumptuous of them.

GMD

Re:Dumbing down, not improving

[dagar17]

THERE NOT REMOVING GAUGES. Just having them in a digital form. If anything the system could now tell you if your sensor is not working, not just looking at a non moving gauge and guessing its not working. This is also not a way to make it much easier for idiots to operate complex machinery without sufficient training. Its just making something like reading a gauge much simpler. You know instead of guessing at the position of a needle you get a clear readout of the number. I'm also pretty sure its not going to be using windows so your computer readout is not going crash. It wasn't that long ago that the space shuttle switched to having like 11 digital displays instead of lots and lots of analog. It works for them so I'm sure it can make life simpler in piloting other vehicles.