Experimental Study of Electronically Based Instrument Approach Plates

Abstract

Issues associated with the electronic presentation of instrument approach plates (IAPs) were investigated in a part-task simulation study using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Aeronautical Systems Laboratory's Advanced Cockpit Simulator. Several electronic IAP chart formats were developed and evaluated. A decluttering system that allowed the pilots to selectively suppress various information groups in some of the prototype formats was also investigated. Results of the experimental study indicated that there was no degradation, and possibly a limited gain in information-retrieval performance when IAP information was presented in electronic format and compared to traditional paper IAPs. Each pilot preferred the selectable decluttering feature. The preferred chart was a color, north-up (nonmoving map) format with the decluttering capability. During the simulation, low levels of terrain situational awareness were observed when pilots were given erroneous air traffic control vectors toward hazardous terrain.