Feasibility Study for Ergonomic Analysis and Design of Future Helicopter Cockpit Systems
Abstract
The Army's planned new family of scout-attack helicopters, the LHX , will be designed to fly nap-of-the-earth missions under conditions of poor visibility and atmospheric adversity, perhaps with a one person crew. The piloting demands likely under these conditions raise two human factors issues critical to success of the LHX mission: 1. How should the LHX information display/control suite be designed to optimize the compatibility with the pilot's information handling capabilities? 2. What information processing functions within the LHX system should be automated in order to ensure the pilot's mental workload under high-stress conditions remains within acceptable limits? Resolution of these issues will be difficult because the LHX's mission and technologies extend well beyond those with which the military and human factors engineering communities are familiar, the system's mission has yet to be fully defined, and there are no rotorcraft pilots experienced with the demands of flight and mission management within the system. As a consequence, human factors engineering of the system cannot rely on extant knowledge of the workload demands of rotorcraft piloting. A new approach is required. Keywords: Flight simulators; Human factors engineering.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA213122
Entities
People
- Harold L. Hawkins