Attitude Indicator Format

Abstract. A simulator study investigated the consequences of a transition between two alternative formats of the attitude indictor in aircraft cockpits, the moving-horizon and moving-aircraft format. Two groups of novices practiced performing two flight tasks (flight-path tracking and recovery from unusual attitudes) with one attitude-indicator format for six practice sessions, before transitioning to the other format. The results show that, after practice, participants were able to perform both tasks equally well with both attitude-indicator formats. However, the number of reversal errors in the recovery task increased considerably when transitioning from the moving-aircraft to moving-horizon format. No such effect emerged for the other direction. This suggests that the former transition is more difficult and represents a possible risk for flight safety.