A comparative study of bank angle indication in a synthetic vision system

Pilots flying with synthetic vision systems with integrated attitude indicators sometimes report degraded attitude awareness. It is suspected that the opposite motions of the projected flight path and bank pointer can reduce a pilot's attitude awareness, and even provide a false cue. A variety of bank angle indicators were compared by pilot-in-the-loop simulations to evaluate their compatibility with a synthetic vision system display. During the simulations, pilots were required to maintain a demand bank angle while diverting from or returning to a demand flight path that was indicated by a "tunnel-in-the-sky". The results revealed that a certain type of bank indication, which has not been used so commonly, gave the best attitude awareness among the candidate indicators.