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The use of an enhanced vision (EV) system in civil aircraft is projected to increase rapidly as the Federal Aviation Administration recently changed the aircraft operating rules under Part 91, revising the flight visibility requirements for conducting operations to civil airports. Operators conducting straight-in instrument approach procedures may now operate below the published approach minimums when using an approval EV system that shows the required visual references on the pilot's Head-Up Display (HUD). An experiment was conducted to evaluate the complementary use of synthetic vision (SV) and EV technologies, focusing on new techniques for integration and/or fusion of synthetic and enhanced vision technologies under the newly adopted FAA rules. The current paper describes a fixed-based simulation experiment that evaluated several display concepts located on the pilot-flying HUD and pilot-not-flying auxiliary display. Results specific to flight crew response, during non-normal events and below minimum visibility, using the fused synthetic/enhanced vision system are discussed here. The results demonstrated that the integrated SV/EV display did not adversely impact detection of lateral navigational solution errors on runway incursions. Additionally, flight crews were able to effectively use existing EV system procedures in their decision-making but found the visual transition from an excellent EV image to natural vision by 100 ft height above touchdown to be awkward. Finally, the addition of scene-linked symbology significantly enhanced flight crew go-around decision-making and reduced the number of illegal landings during approaches in which the required visual references to continue the landing were unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two remarkable supercell storms developed on 22 June 2003 in eastern Nebraska. One of the thunderstorms, located near the town of Aurora, Nebraska, produced the largest known hailstone on record. Receiving far less attention was an adjacent supercell that was equally impressive and is referred to as the Superior, Nebraska, supercell. The two supercells formed during the Bow Echo and Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV) Experiment (BAMEX), operated in the spring and summer of 2003. One of the main platforms used during BAMEX was the airborne Electra Doppler Radar (ELDORA). ELDORA was deployed on the Superior supercell several hours after it initiated. Striking in one of the flybys past the storm was the characteristics of the parent circulation. The Superior supercell was associated with a mesocyclone that was the largest (∼9 km in diameter) and the most intense (118 m s-1 velocity differential) ever documented. Ground-based observations from a nearby Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) located in Hastings, Nebraska (UEX), could not resolve the Doppler velocities correctly owing to the intensity of the mesocyclone. The environmental conditions, satellite imagery, and Doppler radar observations of this supercell are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic vision information systems (SVIS) are the next generation of cockpit display systems that will become an integral part of the commercial flight deck in the future. The goal of this study was to evaluate SVIS against conventional glass cockpit displays to assess whether or not SVIS can improve pilot performance, situation awareness (SA), and workload. The evaluation was conducted in a fixed-based laboratory flight simulator located in the Operator Performance Laboratory at the University of Iowa. A total of 12 pilot evaluators hand-flew fairly difficult approaches into the Eagle County, Colorado, airport. Specially designed questionnaires were used in various phases of the flights to estimate workload. S.A. and user preference. Information relating to SA was collected using the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique and workload estimates were obtained using the NASA Task Loading Index technique. Eye movement data were collected using a modified IScan ETL 500 system, and analyzed to find a link analysis (an analysis of eye movement transitions between areas of duration of fixations. Flight technical error performance was derived. Analysis results indicate that the SVIS is superior to the conventional displays for the majority of the measures that were obtained in the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]