Flight Test Assessments of Pilot Workload, System Usability, and Situation Awareness of Tasar
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Summary
This study addresses the human factors challenges associated with integrating new cockpit automation technologies, specifically the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) system and its Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) application. As aircraft environments become increasingly complex, there is a critical need to evaluate how new tools impact pilot workload, situation awareness, and system usability. The TAP application, designed as an Electronic Flight Bag tool, leverages real-time operational data—including winds, weather, traffic, and airspace status—to optimize route-change procedures. The research aimed to assess the TAP Human-Machine Interface (HMI) during normal flight operations to determine its effects on perceived workload, situation awareness, and overall usability. The evaluation was conducted through flight tests in the National Airspace System in November 2013 and June 2015. The tests utilized an AdvAero Piaggio Avanti aircraft operating in congested airspace, with assessments performed by senior airline pilots. Twelve flights were conducted, each lasting two to 2.5 hours, with two evaluation pilots per flight positioned in the cockpit and cabin. Data collection relied on subjective measures administered both in-flight and post-flight. The specific instruments used included the Bedford Workload Scale to measure cognitive load, the System Usability Scale (SUS) for usability assessments, the Situation Awareness Rating Technique (SART) for situation awareness, and a custom Post-Flight TAP HMI Evaluation questionnaire using Likert-type scales to rate comprehensibility, usability, and usefulness. The results indicated that interaction with the TAP HMI imposed low cognitive workload on pilots, with a mean Bedford Workload Scale score of 2.64 on a 10-point scale. System usability was rated highly, with a mean SUS score of 80.0, and no significant differences were found based on pilot position. Situation awareness scores were mid-range (mean 7.93), suggesting that interacting with the TAP HMI did not negatively impact pilots' ability to acquire and integrate information during flight. Regarding specific interface features, the Startup Checklist and Auto Mode screens were rated as easy to comprehend, while the Manual Mode screen was slightly less comprehensible. However, all display screens were rated as useful and usable. Notably, while in-flight situation awareness was unaffected, post-flight feedback indicated that pilots felt TAP enhanced their situation awareness. The study concludes that the TAP HMI does not create significant additional workload or inhibit task completion, demonstrating high comprehensibility, usefulness, and usability. The findings suggest that the technology supports pilot operations without detrimental effects on situation awareness. These results are being utilized to refine the TAP HMI capabilities and features in preparation for operational trials with partner airlines planned for 2017–2018. The research provides evidence that connected aircraft technologies can be integrated into complex cockpit environments with positive or neutral human factors outcomes, supporting the broader adoption of such systems for flight optimization.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| archive | success | unpaywall | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-09 |
| extract | success | pdftotext | — | — | 4 | 2026-08-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-nvidia | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 17 | 2026-08-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-nvidia on 2026-08-10; verification: verified.
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