DIFFERENCES IN AIRCREW MANUAL SKILLS IN AUTOMATED AND CONVENTIONAL FLIGHT DECKS

Aircraft flight decks have become highly automated in an effort to maximize aircraft performance, increase terminal area productivity, and reduce fuel costs. Whereas flight deck automation offers significant operational advantages over older conventional flight decks, unintended side effects due to automation have been observed. Among these concerns is the possible change of pilot basic skills in automated aircraft. The differences, if any, in manual flight skills between aircrews assigned to conventional and automated flight decks were examined. Commercial airline crew members flying the conventional transport aircraft or the automated version were observed during line-oriented flight training. Aircraft state and pilot control inputs were recorded for analysis. An observer simultaneously evaluated secondary task accomplishment. Significant differences in manual control inputs were found, particularly during abnormal operations. The results have implications concerning modification of aircrew recurrency training, standard operating procedures, and flight deck resource management to further optimize aircrew performance and safety in automated flight decks.