Human Factors While Using Head-Up-Display in Low Visibility Flying Conditions

Abstract

Flying an aircraft in low visibility is still a challenging task for the pilot. It requires precise and accurate situational awareness (SA) in real-time. A Head-up Display (HUD) is used to project collimated internal and external flight information on a transparent screen in the pilot’s forward field of view, which eliminates the change of eye position between Head-Down-Display (HDD) instruments and outer view through the windshield. Implementation of HUD increases the SA and reduces the workload for the pilot. But to provide a better flying capability for the pilot, projecting extensive information on HUD causes human factor issues that reduce pilot performance and lead to accidents in low visibility conditions. The literature shows that human error is the leading cause of more than 70% of aviation accidents. In this study, the ability of the pilot able to read background and symbology information of HUD at a different level of background seen complexity, such as symbology brightness, transition time, amount of Symbology, size etc., in low visibility conditions is discussed. The result shows that increased complexity on the HUD causes more detection errors.