Concepts for conformal and body-axis attitude information for spatial awareness presented in a helmet-mounted display

A piloted simulation study has been conducted to evaluate two methods of presenting attitude information in a helmet-mounted display (HMD) for spatial awareness in a fighter airplane. One method, the body-axis concept, displayed the information relative to the body axis of the airplane. The quantitative results of this study favored the body-axis concept. Although no statistically significant differences were noted for either the pilots' understanding of roll attitude or target position, the pilots made pitch judgment errors three times more often with the conformal display. The subjective results showed the body-axis display did not cause attitude confusion, a prior concern with this display. In the posttest comments, the pilots overwhelmingly selected the body-axis display as the display of choice.