A non-traditional approach to understanding total system performance of avionics systems

Everyday pilots are faced with a vast array of challenges and obstacles, which may interfere with their ability to perform optimally in the cockpit. Often times these obstacles may be related to outside forces such as poor weather or mechanical problems or an onslaught of data from a variety of sources aloft, afloat, and on land. However, it is also possible these obstacles may have been created by the pilots themselves. A pilot's own personality may conflict with those around them, or worse yet, their personality may generate poor decisionmaking skills, which can lead to errors and ultimately disaster. If we were to design, for example, an automated aviation assistant, a synthetic crew member, a computerized co-pilot, for the next generation of avionics, what personality characteristics should we give it? We know that personality effects behavior and as a result affects how we see problems and subsequently, solve them. This paper considers how an avionics system with selected personality characteristics could be designed to both improve a mission performance.