Improving aviation safety with information visualization: Airflow hazard display for helicopter pilots

Many aircraft accidents each year are caused by encounters with airflow hazards near the ground, such as vortices or other turbulence. While such hazards frequently pose problems to fixed-wing aircraft, they are especially dangerous to helicopters, whose pilots often have to operate into confined areas or under operationally stressful conditions. Pilots are often unaware of these invisible hazards while simultaneously attending to other aspects of aircraft operation close to the ground.; Recent advances in aviation sensor technology offer the potential for aircraft-based sensors that can gather large amounts of airflow velocity data in real time. This development is likely to lead to the production of onboard detection systems that can convey detailed, specific information about imminent airflow hazards to pilots. A user interface is required that can present extensive amounts of data to the pilot in a useful manner in real time, yet not distract from the pilot's primary task of flying the aircraft.; In this dissertation, we address the question of how best to present safety-critical visual information to a cognitively overloaded user in real time.; We designed an airflow hazard visualization system according to user-centered design principles, implemented the system in a high fidelity, aerodynamically realistic rotorcraft flight simulator, and evaluated it via usability studies with experienced military and civilian helicopter pilots.; We gathered both subjective data from the pilots' evaluations of the visualizations, and objective data from the pilots' performance during the landing simulations. Our study demonstrated that information visualization of airflow hazards, when presented to helicopter pilots in the simulator, dramatically improved their ability to land safely under turbulent conditions.; Although we focused on one particular aviation application, the results may be relevant to user interfaces and information visualization in other safety-related applications where the user's primary task is something other than looking at the computer interface, such as emergency response, air traffic control, or operating a motor vehicle.