FLIGHT TEST OF AN ALTITUDE-CODED AIRCRAFT LIGHT
Abstract
Light signals which code the altitude at which an aircraft is flying were suggested as a more positive visual mid-air collision prevention aid than any other type of information that can be presented by aircraft light systems. These flight tests were designed to determine pilots' judgments of the altitude and maneuvers of an aircraft equipped with a beacon light signalling the aircraft's altitude in a dot-dash code, compared to the same light flashing a fixed-frequency uncoded signal. Results indicate that pilots were more than twice as accurate in estimating altitude and almost four times as accurate in judging maneuvers when the light was coded. When some tolerance is allowed in the estimates on the uncoded light, accuracy of altitude estimates becomes more comparable for the two light types. Allowing as a correct maneuver judgment the detection of a maneuver (even though the precise altitudes are not correct) more than doubles the frequency of correct maneuver responses for the uncoded light. However, the accuracy is still considerably less than that of the correct responses for the coded light, which was not allowed this tolerance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0410125