Pankok

Researchers at North Carolina State (NC State) University have developed new modified tools that help lower the risk of midair collision for small aircraft.

The new technology considerably improves response times of pilot of small aircraft in making decisions, helping them avoid midair collisions.

As present, pilots often concentrate on the closest aircraft on the display on cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTIs), the GPS displays used by private pilots to track other aircraft in their vicinity.

Lead author of the research Carl Pankok said: "Our goal was to modify a CDTI to help pilots recognisewhich other planes pose the greatest risk."

Scientists modified the CDTI, allowing the aircraft that is crossing a pilot’s path, will either blink or will be coloured yellow.

"These pilots were already pretty good, but the modified CDTIs made them better. Their percentage of ‘correct’ decisions, minimising risk, jumped from 88% to 96%."

Researchers trialled the modified system in a flight simulator with a team of licensed recreational pilots, and compared the pilots’ response times and decision-making time with modified and unmodified displays.

"These pilots were already pretty good, but the modified CDTIs made them better," Pankok said. "Their percentage of ‘correct’ decisions, minimising risk, jumped from 88% to 96%. And their response times in scenarios where the farther aircraft was the higher-risk aircraft were cut in half; from 7.2 seconds to 3.7 seconds for blinking CDTIs, and to 4 seconds for yellow CDTIs.

"We’re hoping that CDTI manufacturers can incorporate these changes and possibly save lives."

The study, ‘Cockpit Displays of Traffic Information and Pilot Bias in Time-to-Contact Judgments’, will be published in the June issue of Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine.

Image: A modified screen display helps pilots identify which plane poses the greatest risk to their flight path. Image: courtesy of Carl Pankok.

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