Relevance and Prestige of Information in Air Traffic Control Towers

Abstract

The relevance and prestige of information relayed to air traffic controllers must work within the controllers’ existing communications framework. Relevance reflects the controller’s information needs; it is measured by the criticality of the information, its importance, and the number of tasks that use the information. Prestige reflects the extent to which the tower supplies the information; it is measured by the number of sources that display that information. Based on a previous task analysis, we analyzed details about (1) which control position uses the information, (2) the relevance of that information to the different tower positions as well as to the tower as a whole, and (3) the prestige of the information. Results indicated that although the local controller uses the majority of information available in the tower, there are also a considerable number of information objects used by all three tower positions. This information used universally tended to be about status and tower procedures. Primary t...