FLIGHT SIMULATOR EVALUATION OF A NOVEL FLIGHT INSTRUMENT DISPLAY TO MINIMIZE THE RISKS OF SPATIAL DISORIENTATION

Background: Spatial disorientation (SD) in flight remains a major sour ce of attrition. Many SD accidents would occur regardless of the instr ument display in use, since the aircrew are simply not looking at the instruments. However, there are a number of accidents which might be a menable to improved instrument displays. In an attempt to improve main tenance and reattainment of correct orientation with a reduced cogniti ve workload, a novel instrument display has been developed. This paper describes an assessment of the display in a UH-60 helicopter flight s imulator. Hypothesis: This study tested the hypothesis that during ins trument flight and recovery from unusual attitudes, the novel display permits a more accurate maintenance and reestablishment of flight para meters than the standard flight instruments. Methods: There were 16 ma le aviators who flew a simulated instrument flight profile and recover y from unusual attitudes using both the standard flight instruments an d the novel display. The two display formats were tested both with and without a secondary task. Results: When compared with the standard in struments, both control of flight parameters and recovery from unusual attitudes were significantly improved when using the novel display. A nalysis of the secondary task scores showed that cognitive workload wa s reduced when using the novel display compared with the standard inst ruments. Conclusions: Results from all aspects of the assessment indic ated benefits of the new display. Future testing should be carried out during real flight, and the display should be further developed to be used in a head-up or helmet-mounted device.