ABSTRACT

Change in aviation technology development has largely been driven by designers and engineers, with only scant consideration of the man-machine interface. Pilots have been expected to adapt. More recently, considerable efforts have been made to design aircraft for the operators, but pilots still find unfriendly engineering solutions on the modem flight deck. Once pilots were eventually included in tl1e design evaluation process, the assumption seems to

Airline Trainingfor New Technology

have been made by manufacturers that senior airline pilot managers would be able to identify the ergonomic solutions most expertly. Pilots, however, are usually conservative by nature. Like most people, experienced pilots see the familiar and comfortable as safer than the unknown. If only senior pilots are involved at the design stage, the resulting airliner flight deck may meet traditional pilot expectations, rather than those of optimal efficiency.