SIMULATOR INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF DIGITAL DATA LINK FOR PILOT/ATC COMMUNICATIONS IN A SINGLE PILOT OPERATION

Studies have shown that radio communications between pilots and air traffic control contribute to high pilot workload and are subject to various errors. These errors result from congestion on the voice radio channel, and missed and misunderstood messages. The use of digital data link has been proposed as a means of reducing this workload and error rate. A critical factor, however, in determining the potential benefit of data link will be the interface between future data link systems and the operator of those systems, both in the air and on the ground. The purpose of this effort was to evaluate the pilot interface with various level of data link capability, in simulated general aviation, single-pilot instrument flight rule operations. Results show that the data link reduced demands on pilots' short-term memory, reduced the number of communication transmissions, and permitted the pilots to more easily allocate time to critical cockpit tasks while receiving air traffic control messages. The pilots who participated unanimously indicated a preference for data link communication over voice-only communications. There were, however, situations in which the pilot preferred the use of voice communications, and the ability for pilots to delay processing of data link messages, during high workload events, caused delays in the acknowledgement of messages to air traffic control.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Langley Research Center
  Hampton, VA  United States  23681
• Authors:
  • Hinton, D A
  • LOHR, G W
• Publication Date: 1988-6

Media Info

• Pagination: 41 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air pilots; Air traffic control; Airline pilots; Consumer behavior; Consumer preferences; Data communications; Human machine systems; Speech; Voice communication
• Old TRIS Terms: Man machine interaction; User reactions
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00484505
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NAS 1.60:2837, L-16457, NASA-TP-2837
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 30 1989 12:00AM