ENHANCING GPS RECEIVER CERTIFICATION FOR EXAMINING RELEVANT PILOT-PERFORMANCE DATABASES

The rapid introduction of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers for airborne navigation has outpaced the capacity of international aviation authorities to resolve human factors issues that concern safe and efficient use of such devices. Current certification technical standards appear to have had little impact on promoting the design of standardized receiver architectures, interfaces and operating manuals, despite evidence from a variety of sources that lack of standardization may undermine safety. This paper explores the relationship between existing human factors data relevant to GPS-interface design and incident/accident databases, which are a rich source of information and serve to highlight the safety-critical nature of GPS receiver interface issues.