Analysis and Evaluation of Cockpit Concept and Crew Concept of a Two-Seater Combat Aircraft

Abstract

The two-seater combat aircraft that went into service with the German Airforce in 1981 and with the German Navy in 1982 was based on operational requirements and technical standards of the 70's and earlier. Changes in the operational goals forced requirements for improving, conserving, and adjusting performance capabilities and made various equipment necessary being added to the current system. During the realization of these modifications ergonomic aspects of the cockpit concept and the crew concept were largely neglected. An analysis and evaluation of human-machine-interactions and crew coordination in the cockpit was carried out, including analysis of tasks, loads, and demands on crew members and task allocations between crew and machine resources depending on various typical airforce missions. In addition, extensive workload experiments were conducted with simulated and real flights, tailored for airforce missions. Demands on crew members in simulated flights were measured with questionnaires and rating scales SWORD and ZEIS, and in real flights with questionnaires and rating scales ZEIS and NASA-TLX/ZEIS combination. Experimental results indicated a wide range of demands and high workload on crew members during specific mission segments. Furthermore, extensive recommendations were established to reduce workload, optimize crew members interaction, and ensure the required performance level. This resulted in a changed cockpit concept with major effects on the crew concept. Beside these more technical aspects social aspects were taken into account and recommendations to improve the actual training concept were worked out to optimize crew members interactions and system performance.