Team play with a powerful and independent agent: A full-mission simulationstudy

One major problem with pilot-automation interaction on modem flight decks i s a lack of mode awareness; that is, a lack of knowledge and understanding of the current and future status and behavior of the automation. A lack of mode awareness is not simply a pilot problem; rather, it is a symptom of a coordination breakdown between humans and machines. Recent changes in autom ation design can therefore be expected to have an impact on the nature of p roblems related to mode awareness. To examine how new automation properties might affect pilot-automation coordination, we performed a full-mission si mulation study on one of the most advanced automated ail cl aft, the Airbus A-320. The results of this work indicate that mode errors and "automation surprises" still occur on these advanced aircraft. However, there appeal to be more opportunities for delayed or missing interventions with undesirabl e system activities, possibly because of high er system autonomy and coupli ng.