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The Cockpit Control Language (CCL) is a pilot-centered interaction concept for the autoflight system that any pilot can learn to use in about fifteen minutes. This ease of learning and use is made possible by the fact that CCL uses existing pilot knowledge about operating the aircraft as the basis for the interaction logic. Therefore, the pilot does not have to learn new operating logic for the flight management system, autopilot, or modes management. Over the past three years, we have moved from a non-functioning, conceptual user interface prototype to a functioning development platform, complete with a constrained natural language parser, graphical user interface, and redesigned Control/Display Unit (CDU) optimized for CCL inputs. In this paper, we describe the elements of our development platform.

Many of the problems associated with automation may be resolved by designing the user interaction and interface based on mental models and knowledge that the users already have. In this paper, I distinguish between user interaction and user interface and between functional complexity and conceptual complexity, describe the importance and application of metaphors to interaction and interface design, and illustrate the concepts using a new pilot interface to the autoflight system. In contrast to the weeks' worth of time required to learn to use a conventional flight management system, the new interaction concept can be learned by any pilot within ten to fifteen minutes, even though it supports more functionality than a conventional flight management system does.

Automation is currently a topic of great interest. Part of the reason for this may be that problems associated with operator use of automation can be relatively subtle yet severe. When designing an automated system, it may not be obvious how the interactions between the operator, the system, and the environment may lead to errors. Consequently, those who design and certify flight deck systems should be aware of some of the issues associated with pilot use of automation. These include the potential for over reliance or under reliance on automation and the factors that can contribute to them, issues of pilot and automation authority, automation complexity, feedback, and transitions between automated and manual control. In this paper, we concentrate on how pilots make decisions to use or not use automation and the factors that can influence these decisions.

It is often difficult to fully anticipate all the potential problems with a new technology. It is particularly difficult to anticipate potential human factors problems and issues because they are often qualitative, and they often arise out of complex interactions between the new technology and its users and operational environment. For these reasons, the task of identifying potential human factors problems for emerging systems and equipment often falls to committees of experts. The Function Allocation Issues and Tradeoffs methodology is intended to assist the identification of potential human factors issues and requirement areas for new systems and equipment. We have recently applied the methodology to identify potential human factors issues and requirement areas for commercial aviation data link systems, particularly those that may replace voice communications between pilots and air traffic controllers. The methodology and some specific results for data link are described.