Weather display symbology affects pilot behavior and decision-making

• We examine the effects of weather display symbology on pilot behavior and decision-making.
• We measured discriminability, communication, weather avoidance, display usage, and cognitive engagement.
• Symbology variations contribute to perceptual asymmetries which affect pilot behavior and decision-making.
• For single-pilot operations, we recommend automated probes that alert the pilot of weather conflicts.

ObjectiveTo examine the basic discriminability of weather display symbols and to assess the effects of weather display symbology on pilot behavior and decision-making.MethodDuring a cockpit simulation, 24 instrument-rated general aviation (GA) pilots were randomly allocated to one of three simulation groups. Pilots flew a Cessna 172 single-engine GA aircraft under Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) and Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) while avoiding hazardous weather. We manipulated the weather display so that each pilot group used a different weather symbology (i.e., symbols and colors). We measured dependent variables for weather avoidance, communication, weather display usage, and cognitive engagement (i.e., oxygenation from Functional Near-Infrared [fNIR] measures). During a change-detection experiment, 20 naïve participants performed a detection task of changes in Aviation Routine Weather Reports (METARs), precipitation, Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMET), lightning, and time-stamp images.ResultsThe simulation outcome showed credible pilot group differences in weather deviations, cognitive engagement, and weather display usage. The change-detection experiment revealed credible differences in discriminability of METAR, SIGMET, and lightning symbols.ConclusionSymbol and color variations in weather displays contribute to perceptual asymmetries which affect pilot behavior and decision-making. We recommend the development of cockpit applications that use weather data to automatically track hazardous conditions and alert the pilot of potential weather conflicts or weather changes.