| Over the coming decades, aviation operations are predicted to rise steadily, increasing the burden on already congested and constrained airspace. A major factor governing the safe minimum separation distance between aircraft is the hazard generated by the wake of neighboring aircraft. Unaware of their proximity to other traffic, aircraft have encountered the wake turbulence of neighboring aircraft tens of miles ahead of them with serious or fatal consequences. The wake display described herein is a perspective view, synthetic vision, flight deck display that enables flight crews to “see” neighboring aircraft, as well as their wakes via a predictive algorithm. Capable of enhancing the situational awareness with respect to the wake-vortex encounter hazard by enabling the flight crew to see the relative position of their aircraft with respect to the wake hazard, the display may allow for a decrease in the standard aircraft spacing to those now used in VFR conditions and an increase in airport and airspace capacity. At present, there is no mechanism in place in the National Airspace System that warns pilots of potential wake vortex encounters. The concept of a wake vortex display addresses the need for a real-time wake vortex avoidance scheme available directly to the pilot.; The wake display has been evaluated under both simulated and actual flight conditions. Thirteen pilots with flight experience ranging from a student pilot to commercial airline and military pilots served as pilot test subjects evaluating the display under simulated conditions. The pilot test subjects completed a survey concerning their knowledge and understanding of wake vortices prior to the simulation data trials and, after the trials, they completed a pilot evaluation and postflight survey rating their experience and providing feedback for the display design. One test pilot and four guest pilots flew the display during the in-flight evaluations incorporating three wake encounter scenarios. They reported a significant increase in their awareness of the position and movement of the wake and, using the display, they were easily able to maneuver the aircraft not only to avoid the wake, but also to find the wake for experimental verification. The simulations and flight tests demonstrated that synthetic vision based on theoretical predictions can enhance a pilot's situational awareness of the wake vortex encounter hazard. |
