A New Interface to Cope With Unreliable Airspeed Indications

Abstract. When unreliable airspeed events occur, the pilot flying (PF) is required to fly the aircraft using the thrust and the pitch parameters that are displayed in two distanced locations of the flight deck. The Sycopaero interface was designed to limit the PF’s workload by automatically displaying thrust and pitch values specific to aircraft configuration on the primary flight display. Participants performed a simulated flight scenario in which they lost airspeed information during take-off with and without the Sycopaero interface. Both behavioral and ocular results demonstrate that the Sycopaero interface significantly lowers the mental workload of PFs and improves their monitoring performance. Taken together, these results suggest that the Sycopaero interface may be a suitable solution to safely handle airspeed failures.