Page 27 - Volume 15 Number 10

ookingKid The past few years have seen a virtual revolution in modern jet cockpits. It’s enough to scare an old-timer like me. Just learning new acronyms like MFD, AHRS, PFD, ADC and SVT can be mind-boggling. But how have jet pilots adapted to the plethora of new information available? When doNASA’s Ames Research Center and FAA’s CAMI Human Factors Lab study single-pilot use of jet cockpit automation.they just get overloaded?Just what the heck is going on in thecockpit of a single-pilot jet?That’s exactly what Barbara K. Burian, Ph.D., wants to know. For the past two years, Dr. Burian, a research psychologist with the Human Systems Integration Division of NASA’s Ames Research Center and Carla Hackworth, Ph.D., branch chief of the FAA’s Civil Aeromedical Institute Human Factors Lab and their NASA and FAA collaborative teams have been planning the ultimate simulation.The team engineered a study aimed at precisely watching and recording pilots’ eye movements in the cockpit, determining what resources we use and how we use them. This groundbreaking study was funded by the FAA Human Factors Research and Engineering Group and received early support through the NASA Aviation Safety Program.As a principal investigator for the study, Dr. Burian wants to determine how much cockpit automation is actually used in everyday flying and to provide new data on how we use automation during both routine and challenging phases of flight. Utilizing a variety of highly specialized cameras and an infrared emitter to map pilots’ eye movements, and scanning paths,NASA and the FAA Human Factors Researchand Engineering Group are undertaking a groundbreaking study on single-pilot jet operations.OCTWIN & TURBINE • 25CTTOOOBBEERRR 22001111