Helicopter Pilot Response Latency as a Function of the Spatial Arrangement of Instruments and Controls

Abstract : This study addresses the question of the spatial arrangement of helicopter instruments and controls in terms of stimulus-response compatibility. The results indicate that in airspeed and altitude adjustment tasks the compatible placement of controls and displayed information may result in a significant time savings and reduced workload and therefore increased mission performance. Fitts' Law is used as a dependent measure to assess the performance of subjects in a discrete manual control task.