Effects of Air Traffic Geometry on Pilots' Conflict Detection With Cockpit Display of Traffic Information

This study presents a systematic investigation of the effects of air traffic geometry on the conflict detection performance of pilots using a cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI). In the study, 24 pilots viewed dynamic encounters between their own aircraft and an intruder aircraft on a simulated CDTI. Difficulty was varied by the intruder aircraft's distance and time to closest point of approach (CPA), relative speed, miss distance at CPA, approach side, and conflict angle. Participants estimated the intruder's location at, and its time to, CPA. Effects on three estimation error measures were explored: intruder's miss distance at CPA, orientation at CPA, and time to CPA. Results showed that estimation errors increased with slower speeds, longer times to CPA, and longer distances to CPA and with longer miss distances at CPA. The best performance occurred at a conflict angle of 90°. Findings also showed that there was a bias to judge conflicts to be more risky than was actually the case. In addition, there was a "distance-over-speed" bias, such that two aircraft farther apart and converging rapidly were perceived as less risky than when they were closer to each other and converging at a slower rate, despite identical time to CPA. The various errors and biases associated with pilots' conflict detection using a CDTI have important safety implications for the design of procedures, displays, and decision support tools for the free flight environment.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1329271
• Authors:
  • Xu, Xidong
  • Rantanen, Esa M
• Publication Date: 2007-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 358-375
• Serial:
  • Human Factors
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Sage Publications, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0018-7208
  • EISSN: 1547-8181
  • Serial URL: http://hfs.sagepub.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air pilots; Air traffic; Aircraft; Aircraft separation; Approach; Aviation safety; Detection and identification; Distance; Error analysis; Free flight (Air traffic control); Geometry; Human error; Information display systems; Near midair crashes; Simulation; Speed; Time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Cockpit display of traffic information
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01053686
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 20 2007 9:53AM