Nicholls Alastair P, Melia Anne, Farmer Eric W, Shaw Gareth, Milne Tracey, Stedmon Alex, Sharples Sarah, Cox Gemma
QinetiQ Ltd., Cody Technology Park, Ively Road, Farnborough, Hants GU14 0LX, UK.
Appl Ergon. 2007 Jul;38(4):457-63. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2007.01.007. Epub 2007 Apr 23.
At present, air traffic controllers (ATCOs) exercise strict control over routing authority for aircraft movement in airspace. The onset of a free flight environment, however, may well result in a dramatic change to airspace jurisdictions, with aircraft movements for the large part being governed by aircrew, not ATCOs. The present study examined the impact of such changes on spatial memory for recent and non-recent locations of aircraft represented on a visual display. The experiment contrasted present conditions, in which permission for manoeuvres is granted by ATCOs, with potential free flight conditions, in which aircrew undertake deviations without explicit approval from ATCOs. Results indicated that the ATCO role adopted by participants impacted differently on short-term and long-term spatial representations of aircraft manoeuvres. Although informing participants of impending deviations has beneficial effects on spatial representations in the short term, long-term representations of spatial events are affected deleteriously by the presentation of subsequent information pertaining to other aircraft. This study suggests strongly that recognition of the perceptual and cognitive consequences of changing to a free flight environment is crucial if air safety is not to be jeopardized.
目前，空中交通管制员（ATCOs）对空域内飞机的航线权限实施严格管控。然而，自由飞行环境的出现很可能会给空域管辖权带来巨大变化，在很大程度上，飞机的飞行将由机组人员而非空中交通管制员来主导。本研究考察了此类变化对视觉显示屏上所呈现的飞机近期和非近期位置的空间记忆的影响。该实验将当前由空中交通管制员批准机动动作的情况与潜在的自由飞行情况进行了对比，在自由飞行情况下，机组人员在未经空中交通管制员明确批准的情况下进行偏离动作。结果表明，参与者所采用的空中交通管制员角色对飞机机动动作的短期和长期空间表征产生了不同影响。虽然提前告知参与者即将发生的偏离动作在短期内对空间表征有有益影响，但后续与其他飞机相关信息的呈现会对空间事件的长期表征产生有害影响。这项研究强烈表明，如果不想危及飞行安全，认识到向自由飞行环境转变所带来的感知和认知后果至关重要。
