Elevated Levels of Automation for Aircraft System & Flight Plan Management

Abstract

Handling high workload is a key concern when implementing Reduced-Crew Operations (RCO). Research has shown that both checklist completion time and decisionmaking performance suffer when reducing the crew complement from two to one. Although automation has historically been used to address workload issues, it has introduced its own set of challenges. Therefore, allocating more tasks to automation with the aim to lower workload may amplify adverse side effects instead of solving any. Instead, automation should be designed to increase the performance of the human-machine system as a whole.

RCO presents an opportunity to critically reassess automation on the flight deck by redefining the role of the pilot. Many researchers agree that the pilot remains the ultimate decision-maker and is responsible for ensuring the safety and success of the flight operation. The pilot’s role will encompass flight planning, communication, and surveillance, while system management tasks are considered suitable candidates for automation. However, automating system management may lead to diminished system state awareness, potentially compromising flight plan management performance. Consequently, additional support is needed to keep the pilot actively engaged with flight plan management tasks.

In addition to addressing the potential adverse effects of automating system tasks, the current support for flight plan management requires already a significant improvement. A key challenge in handling non-normals lies in assessing and integrating disturbances into the flight plan. Pilots must gather, combine, and analyze environmental and system information. This information is often fragmented across multiple sources and requires decryption to become actionable. This process heavily relies on the pilot’s initiative and experience, increasing the risk of unconsidered impacts.

This study examined the impact of elevating the Level of Automation (LOA) for system and flight plan management functions. A proposed concept elevated the LOA of the system management support, specifically the action execution stage from a stepby- step action support to a system that autonomously performs a sequence of actions after human activation. In flight plan management, the information acquisition and analysis stages were highly automated, with the goal of reducing workload while enhancing decision-making performance…