In order to preserve some important historical information and perspective, this paper will present human factors engineering innovations and success stories in aircraft cockpit design for the US Navy and US Marine Corps over the last 50 years. This is a story of close collaboration between human factors professionals serving as active duty military, civilian government employees, and contractors. We focus on what was accomplished and how advanced technologies and processes were transitioned from laboratory to the fleet through systems acquisition. Timely transition of user interface technologies was critical to many of these successes. Impacts of these technology transitions are highlighted. We will demonstrate how a combination of organization, staffing, and risk tolerance allowed the US Navy to efficiently transition advanced crew station and other technologies successfully to military aircraft.
History of Human Factors in US Navy Aircraft Cockpit Design: 1969-2019