The effects of ownship position information and NEXRAD image resolution in the use of a weather information display

A series of experiments are underway to explore in full-mission flight simulation the effects of data-link weather displays upon pilot decision performance. The results of these experiments are being incorporated in recommendations to the FAA and prospective manufacturers for the design and use of these displays. This paper reports the results of the second experiment in the series in which the effects were explored of the addition of ownship position symbology and NEXRAD cell size resolution on pilot weather avoidance decision making. In this experiment 24 pilots were organized into two groups. Both groups were provided the data-linked weather display with ownship position symbology. The performance of the pilots in both groups was compared to the performance of the pilots in the group in the first experiment that did not have ownship position symbology. Half of the pilots in this second experiment were presented with NEXRAD weather images having a large NEXRAD cell size (8 km), the other half were presented with a small cell size (4 km). It was found that the introduction of ownship position symbology did not appear to significantly impact the decision making process. However, NEXRAD cell size resolution did appear to influence the tactical decision making process.