A Comparison of Two Pitch Ladder Formats and An ADI Ball for Recovery from Unusual Attitudes
Abstract
The pitch ladder presented on the F/A-18 HUD has been reported as 'marginally acceptable' by F/A-18 pilots for recovery from unusual attitudes. Loss of situational awareness is a major problem and has been cited as a contributing factor to four F/A-18 ground impact accidents. Two experiments were conducted to assess the relative merits of the current F/A-18 pitch ladder, a revised pitch ladder, and a ADI ball as attitude indicators. Performance data were collected in the first experiment for decision times and number of errors. The results of this experiment indicated that used of the ADI ball in a dynamic mode, using a dynamic cockpit simulator. There were no significant differences of format for decision time. However, significant differences were found for background condition, pitch, and the interaction of format by pitch by roll. The results did indicate that use of the ADI ball resulted in faster recovery times. Significant differences in recovery times were also found for pitch, roll and the interaction of pitch and roll. The results of the two experiments indicate that for the F/A-18 the ADI ball should be relocated in a more optimal location (i.e., within the central field of view) to aid in recovery from unusual attitudes. The current location of the ball within the display suite is not within the normal scanning envelope of the pilot, thus, the ADI ball is not generally used by the pilots. Other promising research efforts are proposed to improve the ability of pilots to recover loss of situational awareness.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA181253
Entities
People
- David P. Gleisner
- Norman W. Warner
- Steven A. Kinsley
Organizations
- Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster