Simulation and Flight Evaluation of a Heads-Up Display for General Aviation

A landing-site indicator (LASI) has been devised as a relatively simple heads-up display to show the pilot the magnitude and direction of the airplane's velocity vector superimposed over the pilot's view of the landing area. A total of 160 landings were performed in a fixed-base simulation program by four pilots with and without the LASI display. These tests showed the display to be of beneficial use in making the approaches more consistent. Some inferences were also made that the physical workload would also be less with its use. The pilots generally agreed that the LASI, as represented in the simulation was a useful landing aid. Additional pilot comments from preliminary flight tests of a breadboard LASI display unit tend to confirm the simulator results. The LASI unit might also be useful as a training device for student pilots, however, specific tests would have to be performed to verify this possibility.