A usability study for a real-time flight deck turbulence assessment and monitoring system

Developed a usability study to determine the content and format of real-time objective turbulence data on the flight deck. The data show that pilots want objective turbulence information in the cockpit. They are more interested in data from other aircraft than about their own ship. In addition, the data also provided insight into the kind of information to which pilots are interested in having access. In general, pilots want the most information possible with the ability to filter out the "clutter." Static display representations may not, however, provide enough design guidance. As pilots work in a dynamic environment and must complete several tasks at once, the next steps include evaluating the promising formats and display locations in a pilot-in-the-loop evaluation in a full motion simulator. With such an evaluation, one could measure if objective measures of turbulence improve safety, ride quality and economy.