Recent flight test results using an electronic display format on the NASA B-737

This paper presents results of a flight evaluation of two electronic display formats for the approach-to-landing under instrument conditions. The evaluation was conducted for a baseline electronic display format and for the same format with runway symbology and track information added; its evaluation was conducted during 3-deg manual straight-in approaches with and without initial localizer offsets. Flight-path tracking performance data and pilot subjective comments were examined with regard to pilot's ability to capture and maintain the localizer and glide slope using both display fomats. The results of the flight tests agree with earlier simulation results and show that the addition of a perspective runway symbol with an extended centerline and relative track information to a baseline electronic display format improved both lateral and vertical flight-path tracking. Pilot comments indicated that the mental workload required to assess the approach situation was reduced as a result of integrating the perspective runway with extended centerline along with relative track information into the vertical situation display. The limited flight-test results also show that the flight-path performance with the integrated situation display format meets Category II Flight-Director performance criteria.