United States Department of Transportation
i
Mobile Meteorological Information Tailored to Landing Phase of Flight. Part II: Refinement
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2018-03-01
[PDF-2.92 MB]
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Abstract:This study represents the fourth in a series of tests of a mobile meteorological application intended for aircraft pilots, and designed to run on a tablet computer. The current study focuses on features that the third study (Knecht & Dumont, 2017) proved useful in assessing the risk of runway winds during the landing phase of flight. Specifically, graphical depictions of runway winds were compared with textual descriptions of the same Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine (METAR) report-like information. Significant findings emerged. First, graphical depiction was significantly more efficient than textual depiction, taking only 70% as much cognitive processing time, with no penalty in accuracy. Moreover, when available viewing time was severely constrained to just 5 seconds, pilots timed out significantly fewer times with graphical depiction. Second, graphical depiction produced significantly fewer misclassifications of landing difficulty than textual depiction. Third, graphical depiction ultimately produced fewer mistakes in deciding whether or not to land. Fourth, graphical depiction produced significantly higher pilots' confidence in their landing decisions, particularly when available viewing time was severely constrained. And, because those decisions were demonstrably better, the higher confidence appeared warranted. Fifth, pilots appeared to employ heuristics (simplifying rules) when estimating risk due to runway winds. In textual depiction, especially when time is limited, pilots appear to ignore trigonometry and instead base their risk estimates as if the stated wind speed is the crosswind component. Similarly, in graphical depiction, pilots appear to focus on the more severe wind component as the limiting risk factor for that landing. Interestingly, both heuristics lead to overestimation of risk, and more conservative landing behavior. Finally, pilots unanimously preferred the graphical depiction, both in this study, and the previous one. Unanimity of preference is quite rare in product development.
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