Document | Author Lamyea Ahmed, Michael A. Bromfield |
Abstract The need for sustainable aviation has accelerated the development of electric aircraft and propulsion systems. These systems generate less noise compared to conventional piston engines (Moshov & Toropylina, 2022) and provide limited cues to the pilot in the event of a propulsion system’s failure. Not recognising powerplant failure and taking prompt recovery actions in a timely manner may lead to aerodynamic stall and loss of control in flight (Smith & Bromfield, 2022). This research aims to explore how multimodal presentation of electric propulsion system information affects pilot response times during propulsion system failure. A human-centred design approach was employed to develop multimodal presentations of data, incorporating visual, auditory and visual/auditory feedback in combination. Simulated flights were conducted in a fixed-base flight simulator, using control and experimental groups consisting of student pilots (n=eight). Preliminary results indicate that pilot response times are reduced when using a combination of visual/auditory information. |