A Peripherally-Located Virtual Instrument Landing Display Affords More Precise Control of Approach Path during Simulated Landings than Traditional Instrument Landing Displays

Abstract

We compared the precision of simulated fixed-wing aircraft landing approaches with three different head-up display (HUD) formats: a) MIL-STD-1787B Cruise Mode, b) MIL-STD-1787B Instrument Landing System (ILS) Mode, and c) a virtual ILS HUD presented to the visual periphery. Non-pilot participants used simplified controls to guide a landing simulation under both day and night visual meteorological conditions. Experiment 1 confirmed that testing non-pilots with our experimental setting could induce the black-hole illusion, in which the approach is lower than appropriate at night. Experiment 2 compared landing performance aided by the three HUD formats under the same visual conditions. We found that both ILS displays improved approach path precision as compared to the MIL-STD Cruise Mode, and that the peripherally-located virtual ILS HUD reliably afforded the greatest precision. These results suggest that ILS approaches may be better supported by presenting a virtual ILS display to the visual periphery.