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Helicopter Human FactorsEven under optimal conditions, helicopter flight is a most demanding form of human-machine interaction, imposing continuous manual, visual, communications, and mental demands on pilots. It is made even more challenging by small margins for error created by the close proximity of terrain in NOE flight and missions flown at night and in low visibility. Although technology advances have satisfied some current and proposed requirements, hardware solutions alone are not sufficient to ensure acceptable system performance and pilot workload. However, human factors data needed to improve the design and use of helicopters lag behind advances in sensor, display, and control technology. Thus, it is difficult for designers to consider human capabilities and limitations when making design decisions. This results in costly accidents, design mistakes, unrealistic mission requirements, excessive training costs, and challenge human adaptability. NASA, in collaboration with DOD, industry, and academia, has initiated a program of research to develop scientific data bases and design principles to improve the pilot/vehicle interface, optimize training time and cost, and maintain pilot workload and system performance at an acceptable level. Work performed at Ames, and by other research laboratories, will be reviewed to summarize the most critical helicopter human factors problems and the results of research that has been performed to: (1) Quantify/model pilots use of visual cues for vehicle control; (2) Improve pilots' performance with helmet displays of thermal imagery and night vision goggles for situation awareness and vehicle control; (3) Model the processes by which pilots encode maps and compare them to the visual scene to develop perceptually and cognitively compatible electronic map formats; (4) Evaluate the use of spatially localized auditory displays for geographical orientation, target localization, radio frequency separation; (5) Develop and flight test control/display concepts; (6) Quantify, model, predict, and improve pilots, workload-management strategies; and (7) Design computer-game trainers to reduce training time and cost.
Document ID
20020022523
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Hart, Sandra G.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Sridhar, Banavar
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1995
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Meeting Information
Meeting: AGARD Consultant Mission
Country: Germany
Start Date: April 15, 1995
End Date: June 15, 1995
Sponsors: Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 505-64-36
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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