impact of automation on situational awareness
The Impact of Automation on Situational Awareness in Multi-Crew Air Carrier Flight Operations
From the first flight by the Wright Brothers, the aviation industry has always been one to constantly search for innovations to make flying safer and more efficient. A number of different implementations have been put in place to aid the pilot and make their job easier, ranging from Glass Cockpit to auto landing capabilities. Before the idea of using automation in the cockpit aviators had to rely on paper charts and flight calculators in order to traverse through the skies. This process also kept pilots “in check” so to speak. Pilots had to constantly check and recheck to ensure the aircraft was operating as expected and that they were on course. As the years progressed, so did technology, the idea is, there is always room to implement new technology into the cockpit to make flying safer. In order to get rid of the time-consuming charts and calculations, an idea was developed to use various automation technologies to aid in situational awareness. The question remains, does automation cause more harm than good in multi-crew air carrier operations?
PRO
Many advances have been made due to the automation introduced in the cockpit. These advances have positively aided in the situational awareness of pilots in the flight deck. For instance
Use of cathode ray tube (CRT) screens has made for more succinct information presentation and a better emulation of the outside world through map displays. These new cockpits have been christened "glass cockpits" to reflect this better representation of the outside world (the similarities between the instrument panel and the outside world) and the use of electronic display panels. Aircraft automation and computerization are now used on all types of two-person crew aircraft (Amalberti, R. 1998).
Global Positioning System (GPS) was also implemented, and made navigation significantly easier. Pilots no longer had to use
From the first flight by the Wright Brothers, the aviation industry has always been one to constantly search for innovations to make flying safer and more efficient. A number of different implementations have been put in place to aid the pilot and make their job easier, ranging from Glass Cockpit to auto landing capabilities. Before the idea of using automation in the cockpit aviators had to rely on paper charts and flight calculators in order to traverse through the skies. This process also kept pilots “in check” so to speak. Pilots had to constantly check and recheck to ensure the aircraft was operating as expected and that they were on course. As the years progressed, so did technology, the idea is, there is always room to implement new technology into the cockpit to make flying safer. In order to get rid of the time-consuming charts and calculations, an idea was developed to use various automation technologies to aid in situational awareness. The question remains, does automation cause more harm than good in multi-crew air carrier operations?
PRO
Many advances have been made due to the automation introduced in the cockpit. These advances have positively aided in the situational awareness of pilots in the flight deck. For instance
Use of cathode ray tube (CRT) screens has made for more succinct information presentation and a better emulation of the outside world through map displays. These new cockpits have been christened "glass cockpits" to reflect this better representation of the outside world (the similarities between the instrument panel and the outside world) and the use of electronic display panels. Aircraft automation and computerization are now used on all types of two-person crew aircraft (Amalberti, R. 1998).
Global Positioning System (GPS) was also implemented, and made navigation significantly easier. Pilots no longer had to use
References: Amalberti, R. (1998) Automation in Aviation : A human factors perspective, in D.Garland, J.Wise & D. Hopkin (Eds) Aviation Human Factors, (pp 173-192, chapter 7), Hillsdale- New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pasztor, A. (2009, October 27). Laptops cited for pilot inattention. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB125658134147008625 Archer, J., Keno, H., & Kwon, Y. (2013). Effects of automation in the aircraft cockpit environment: Skill dergadation, situational awareness, workload. (Unpublished master 's thesis, Purdue University)Retrieved from http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~archerj/IE 590 (AAE 590) - Effects of Automation in the Aircraft Cockpit Environment.pdf Etherington, T. J., Vogl, T. L., Lapis, M. B., & Razo, J. G. (2000). Synthetic vision information system.In Proceedings of the 19th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (pp. 2.A.4–2.A.8). Philadelphia: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Millspaugh, B. Civil Air Patrol, (2010). Aircraft systems and airports. Retrieved from NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS CIVIL AIR PATROL AEROSPACE EDUCATION DEPUTY DIRECTORATE website: http://www.texascadet.org/uploads/Module_2.pdf Rapp, R. (2013). Automation’s effect on pilot skill. Aviation Safety, Retrieved from http://www.rapp.org/archives/2011/09/automation/