Mixed-Media Communication on the Flight Deck: A Comparison of Voice, Data Link, and Mixed ATC Environments

This paper outlines some of the results being achieved by the UK research programme on civil avionics which is based at RAE Bedford. Acknowledgments are therefore due to members of the civil avionics team and UK industry from whose work these examples are drawn, and not least to the Department of Trade and Industry who fund the programme.No attempt is made to define ‘flight management systems’. The concept, originating in the complex outer loops of autopilots, has now come to include all the detail involved in managing the flight deck systems as well as planning and controlling the aircraft's progress from ramp to ramp. As this paper will hope to demonstrate, the concept is still growing.

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Re-Examination of Mixed Media Communication

Mass Communication ◽

10.1201/b13122-17 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 272-300 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Melisa Dunbar ◽

Alison McGann ◽

Margaret-Anne Mackintosh ◽

Sandra Lozito

Keyword(s):

Mixed Media ◽

Media Communication

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Effects of Modality on Interrupted Flight Deck Performance: Implications for Data Link

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193129804200120 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 87-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Kara A. Latorella

Keyword(s):

Traffic Control ◽

Interface Design ◽

Information Service ◽

Basic Research ◽

Auditory Task ◽

Pilot Performance ◽

Data Link ◽

Fixed Base ◽

Commercial Flight ◽

Flight Deck

Externally-imposed tasks frequently interrupt ongoing task performance in the commercial flight deck. While normally managed without consequence, basic research as well as aviation accident and incident investigations show that interruptions can negatively affect performance and safety. This research investigates the influence of interruption and interrupted task modality on pilot performance in a simulated commercial flight deck. Fourteen current commercial airline pilots performed approach scenarios in a fixed-base flight simulator. Air traffic control instructions, conveyed either aurally or visually ( via a data link system) interrupted a visual task (obtaining information from the Flight Management System) and an auditory task (listening to the automated terminal information service recording). Some results confirm the hypothesized performance advantage of cross-modality conditions, more compelling nature of auditory interruptions, and interruption-resistance of auditory ongoing tasks. However, taken together, results suggest the four interaction conditions had different effects on pilot performance. These results have implications for the design of data link systems, and for facilitating interruption management through interface design, aiding, and training programs.

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