Perceived Importance of the Visual Cues to the Timing of the Landing Flare
Perceived Importance of the Visual Cues to the Timing of the Landing Flare
复制标题
视觉提示对着陆耀斑时机的重要性
DOI:
10.15394/jaaer.2005.1512
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发表时间:
2005
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
D. Benbassat
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
D. Benbassat
One of the fmt obstacles that confront student pilots is the landing flare. Of special concern is the initial decrease in rate of descent, also known as the leveloff. The ability to time this maneuver is crucial to a smooth and safe landing, but poorly understood. Ninety-two aviators in two Part 141 flight schools completed a perception questionnaire in the attempt tb further explore the role of visual cues in timing the landing flare. Findings suggest that pilots find it difficult to articulate or identi@ these visual cues. These findings highlight the shortcomings of current landing instruction and emphasize the need to transition from verbal to nonverbal instruction. The importance of timing general aviation landing flares is well documented. Initiating the flare too high or too low may cause structural damage (Christy, 199 1 ; Jorgensen & Schely, 1990) and even discourage some students 6om pursuing the private pilot certificate (Collins, 198 1 ; K i 1998; Matson, 1973). Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which pilots time the landing flare are equivocal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the visual cues pilots use to time the landing flare. Scientific publications have attempted to explore the procedural process of timing the landing flare, and although an in-depth discussion is beyond the scope of this paper, the use of optic flow and monocular cues will be considered. Gibson (1950) and Calvert (1950) first considered the notion of optic flow. As the aircratt approaches the runway, everything expands in an apparent outward motion with the exception of the touchdown focal point that has an optic flow expansion of zero (Grosz et al., 1995; Thom, 1992). Current time-to-contacttheories (Grosz et al., 1995; Mulder, Pleijsant, van der Vaart, & van W i e ~ g e n , 2000) suggested that pilots use this rate of angular expansion to estimate time of impact. Thus, time-to-contact theorists suggest that pilots time (i.e., initiate) the flare as a result of a perceived timeto-collision with the runway, not as a result of perceived altitude Above Ground Level (AGL) (Lee, 1976). Other theorist. suggest that pilots initiate the flare as a result of perceived altitude AGL. They suggest that as the aircraft approaches the runway, pilots attend to two-dimensional cues laden with depth perception information (Benson, 1999). These cues are known as monocular cues and were studied at least as early as Leonardo Da Vinci to promote the effect of depth in a two-dimensional canvas. Table 1 summarizes monocular cues that pilots ~equently use to infer altitude AGL. JAAER, Fall 2005 Page 3 1 1 Benbassat: Perceived Importance of the Visual Cues to the Timing of the Land Published by Scholarly Commons, 2005 Perceived Importance of Visual Cues