CLASSIC ANALOG PILOT INSTRUMENTS AND “GLASS COCKPIT” IN THE CONTEXT OF PILOT’S PREFERENCES AND CONFIDENCE IN THEIR USE DURING FLIGHT

Abstract

With the development of aviation, more and more improvements have been made to existing aviation technologies and applications. These efforts are aimed at optimizing every aviation operation and ensuring maximum safety during flight. Cockpit and in-flight equipment have also begun to seek out new technologies. Since the introduction of new technologies into the aviation world, pilots have been tasked with adapting to new instrument readings. This article is to present the authors' research to determine the degree of pilots' confidence and comfort in using digital glass cockpit imaging, along with an indication of respondents' subjective opinion of digital and analog imaging of pilot information. The study used a diagnostic survey on a sample of 67 respondents to show the differences in piloting and individual pilots' attitudes toward a particular way of visualizing instrument indications in the cockpit. The analysis of the data showed that the vast majority of pilots have experience in performing aircraft operations in a "glass cockpit" and overwhelmingly prefer such a display of indications or do not experience significant differences in piloting in the context of instrument display. Respondents note differences in flying with digital versus analog equipment. In addition, they indicate that they are much more likely to make mistakes resulting from misreading pilot information when using analog flight instruments. At a time when "glass cockpits" are becoming more widely used in general aviation as well, it is necessary to know the differences resulting from the different way of presenting information, but especially the preferences of the pilot crews, who are directly responsible for flight safety.