The cockpit control language: a pilot-centered avionics interface

Abstract

Abstract As automation becomes more sophisticated and complex, there is increasing concern about the time and cost of training pilots to use it, and the possibility of pilot errors. In this sense, the evolution of avionics systems is emulating the evolution of personal computers in the 1980s. In the early days of personal computing, users had to learn some basic computer science concepts and an obscure command language with only passing resemblance to natural language. Because the command language was highly codified and condensed, the user had to commit apparently arbitrary syntax rules to memory, and if the user made an error, such as reversing the source and destination drives in the “copy” command, the results could be catastrophic (in this case, erasing the file that was intended to be saved and saving the one that was intended to be erased). The personal computer industry responded to the widespread perception that computers were difficult to use by developing graphic user interfaces. Today, most users can perform rudimentary operations on a personal computer with little or no training or reference to the manual. It is possible that the same type of advance could be achieved with avionics systems, so that almost any trained pilot could operate a new piece of avionics with little or no training in its specific operation.