Unusual Attitude Recoveries With a Spatial Disorientation Icon.

Twenty-two participants (12 with prior flying experience and 12 without), performed a series of trials in a low fidelity flight simulator in which they attempted to recover from a series of unusual attitudes. Two display variables were examined: (1) the attitude display was either a traditional head-up display (HUD) with an inside-out motion and pitch ladder, or an Arc-Segmented Attitude Reference (ASAR) display; and (2) a command icon that pointed to the appropriate airplane rotation for recovery direction in pitch and roll was either present or absent. The results revealed that the icon speeded the initial correction and reduced the number of roll reversal errors, while the traditional HUD decreased the total time to recovery. Experienced pilots were more disrupted by the ASAR display than were novices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]