Flight Deck Interval Management Delegated Separation Using Equivalent Visual Operations

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) concept termed, “Equivalent Visual Operations” (EVO) represents a fundamentally different operational approach to current issues confronting commercial aviation. Synthetic and enhanced flight vision system (S/EVS) technologies are critical enabling technologies to EVO. Research was conducted that evaluated concepts for flight-deck-based interval management operations, integrated with S/EVS. One of the concepts tested involves delegated flight-deck-based separation, in which the flight crews were paired with another aircraft and responsible for spacing and maintaining separation from the paired aircraft termed “equivalent visual separation.” The operation required the flight crews to acquire and maintain an “equivalent visual contact” as well as to conduct manual landings in low-visibility conditions utilizing S/EVS and other flight deck technologies. The article describes results that evaluated the concept of EVO delegated separation, including an off-nominal scenario in which the lead aircraft was not able to conform to the assigned spacing resulting in a loss of separation. The results demonstrated that delegated separation improved flight deck situation awareness without an increase in mental workload. Implications for NextGen and future research directions are described.