Operational Landing Credit with EVS Head Down Display: Crew Procedure and Human Factors Evaluation

Abstract

Feasibility of an EVS head-down procedure is examined that may provide the same operational benefits under low visibility as the FAA rule on Enhanced Flight Visibility that requires the use of a head-up display (HUD). The main element of the described EVS head-down procedure is the crew procedure within cockpit for flying the approach. The task sharing between Pilot-Flying and Pilot-Not-Flying is arranged such that multiple head-up/head-down transitions can be avoided. The Pilot-Flying is using the head-down display for acquisition of the necessary visual cues in the EVS image. The pilot not flying is monitoring the instruments and looking for the outside visual cues. This paper reports about simulation activities that complete a series of simulation and validation activities carried out in the frame of the European project OPTIMAL. The results support the trend already observed after some preliminary investigations. They suggest that pilots can fly an EVS approach using the proposed EVS head-down display with the same kind of performance (accuracy) as they do with the HUD. There seems to be no loss of situation awareness. Further on, there is not significant trend that the use of the EVS head-down display leads to higher workload compared to the EVS HUD approach. In conclusion, EVS-Head-Down may be as well a feasible option for getting extra operational credit under low visibility conditions.