Display Principles, Control Dynamics, and Environmental Factors in Pilot Training and Transfer

Abstract

Sixty-four flight-naive men were tested in a fractional factorial, quasi-transfer experiment to examine the effects of four display factors, one control response factor, and one environmental factor on acquisition and transfer of aircraft landing skills. An additional 12 trainees served as experimental controls. Transfer was measured from each of 64 experimental training conditions to a criterion condition with a conventional inside-out pictorial contact display, normal simulator control dynamics, and a 5-knot crosswind. Transfer was better following training with pictorial displays than with symbolic displays, and with normal rather than reduced bank control order. Interactions of crosswind with predictive augmentation and with bank control order showed that for some conditions, transfer benefited from training with predictive augmentation and from training without crosswind.