An analysis of commercial airline pilot turbulence assessments in a full motion simulator

Little prior research has examined how successful pilots are at using cues to make consistent judgments. The goal of this research was to study how pilots assess turbulence intensity when no "out the window" cues are available (e.g., no clouds or contrails). In this experiment, we explored these subjective differences in turbulence assessments. Pilots provided their turbulence assessments while experiencing various "smooth", "light", and "moderate" turbulence intensities in a full motion simulator.