Human Factors Flight Test Evaluation of an Airport Surface Display with Indications & Alerts (SURF IA)

This paper presents the results of a human factors flight test evaluation of a display of Enhanced Traffic Situational Awareness on the Airport Surface with Indications and Alerts (SURF IA). The study is an element of the FAA-sponsored Surface Conflict Detection and Alerting with Consideration of Arrival Applications program. The objective of the flight test was to conduct a comparative evaluation of two candidate SURF IA displays: a detailed Airport Surface Situation Awareness (ASSA) display and a runways-only Final Approach Runway Occupancy Awareness (FAROA) display. Six pilots with a current Air Transport Pilot Certificate each completed 18 scenarios. A Beechcraft King Air C-90 and a Cessna Citation Sovereign aircraft were deployed for the flight tests. The scenarios were conducted at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and at Snohomish County Paine Field Airport, with each aircraft acting as ‘traffic’ for the other aircraft. A within-subjects experimental design was used for the evaluation. The test results indicate that the SURF IA display was perceived to enhance both position and traffic awareness. Pilots preferred the more detailed ASSA display, but found the FAROA display to be acceptable. Pilots perceived both SURF IA display types to support an acceptable workload level and to support operational decision-making. The display symbology design for traffic and runway indications and alerts was acceptable and well understood by pilots. The data indicate that pilots acknowledged and understood the traffic and runway indications & alerts. The alerts were regarded as useful. In addition, the traffic indications were considered to be consistent with actual traffic locations, and the timing of the runway indications was considered appropriate. ADS-B signal loss anomalies due to line-of-sight blockage and multi-path reflections were also observed and noted by pilots.