Evaluation of a collision avoidance display to support pilots' mental workload in a free flight environment

Air traffic is expected to double in the next two decades. The possibility of pilots' mental workload and midair collisions will increase therefore. To support the growing air traffic under the free flight environment, new systems, procedures and self-separation as compared to current Air Traffic Management System will be introduced. Pilots' self-separation is a new task. This new task may pose a challenge to both pilots and air traffic controllers (ATC) in conflict situations. Thus, imposes a new mental workload. An innovative collision avoidance display has been developed to support pilots' mental workload in a free flight environment. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Flight Collision Avoidance System (FCAS) display as compared with a contemporary instrumentation. The results suggest a decrease in pilots' mental workload is a viable proposition for complex flight tasks.