FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-19/09

Title and Subtitle: Pilot Performance on a SA CAT I Instrument Approach Using Synthetic Vision on a Head-up Display and a Retrofit Head-down Display

Report Date: March 2018

Authors: Beringer DB, Domino DA, Kamienski J

Abstract: Thirteen two-person crews flew SA CAT I approaches to KOKC runway 35R in a B-737-800 Level D flight simulator. Conditions were varied by:

1. display type - head-up display (HUD) w/o synthetic vision (SV), HUD w/SV, and head-down display (HDD) w/SV;
2. runway lighting - High-intensity runway lights (HIRL), HIRL plus runway centerline lights (RCL), HIRL plus RCL plus touchdown-zone lights (TDZ);
3. ambient illumination - day, night; and
4. combinations of decision height (DH) and runway visual range (RVR) - 100'/1200', 150'/1400'.

Results suggest that there were no performance differences between using a head-down and the head-up synthetic-vision displays that rose to the level of operational significance pilot preferences not withstanding.

Key Words: Synthetic Vision, SVGS, SA CAT I, Pilot Performance Displays, HUD, HDD

No. of Pages: 96