Pilot Interactions in an Over-constrained Conflict Scenario as Studied in a Piloted Simulation of Autonomous Aircraft Operations

Feasibility and safety of autonomous aircraft operations were studied in a multi-piloted simulation of over- constrained traffic conflicts to determine the need for, and utility of, priority flight rules to maintain safety in this extraordinary and potentially hazardous situation. An over- constrained traffic conflict is one in which the separation assurance objective is incompatible with other objectives. In addition, a proposed scheme for implementing priority flight rules by staggering the alerting time between the two aircraft in conflict was tested for effectiveness. The simulation was conducted in the Air Traffic Operations Laboratory at the NASA Langley Research Center. This research activity is a continuation of the Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management feasibility analysis reported in the 4 th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management R&D Seminar in