Evaluation of Pilot Performance and Workload During a “Black Tube” Approach to Land

Abstract

As glass cockpits become more ubiquitous in commercial and general aviation aircraft, it is important that aircraft manufacturers consider which standby instruments should be available to the pilot if the display units (DU) should fail. This study measures pilot performance and workload while performing black tube approaches with two different standby instrument configurations. Subjective and objective measures show that: 1) Pilot's overall performance declined when using standby instruments regardless of the standby instruments provided. 2) Workload ratings were significantly lower during black tube approaches when a standby HSI was available. 3) Lateral deviations were significantly lower during black tube approaches when a standby HSI was available. These results suggest that information provided by a standby HSI is critical to pilots for performing approaches to land during black-tube operations. The HSI provides a birdseye perspective which is critical to maintaining the pilot's situational awareness during instrument maneuvers.