Aircraft and spacecraft pilots frequently change their level of supervisory control between full autopilot and other modes, providing varying levels of manual control. Therefore, multimodal systems must transition “gracefully,” meaning without unsafe decreases in flight performance or unacceptable changes in workload or situation awareness. Thirteen subjects flew a fixed base simulation of the NASA Constellation Program Altair lunar lander that transitioned from full autopilot to one of three flight-director-guided rate-command attitude hold manual control modes. After training, each subject flew 24 approaches, half of which included a landing point redesignation at the time of the mode transition requiring the pilot to null additional guidance errors. Bedford subjective workload and two-choice embedded secondary task response times were used to quantify temporal changes in mental workload. Situation awareness transients were detected by analysis of a tertiary task, verbal callouts of altitude, fuel, and terrain hazards. Graceful transitions were particularly difficult because Altair’s large inertia made the plant dynamics relatively sluggish. Transitions to manual control increased subjective and objective workloads and decreased callout accuracy in proportion to the number of flight control axes being manually commanded.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Pilot Performance, Workload, and Situation Awareness During Lunar Landing Mode Transitions


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2013-06-19


    Size :

    9 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English






    Effect of Data Communications on Pilot Situation Awareness, Decision Making, and Workload

    Baker, K.M. / DiMare, S.K. / Nelson, E.T. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2012


    Vertical Situation Awareness and Pilot Performance

    McCroble, D. / Sherry, L. / IEEE et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1996