@article{ref1,
title="Recovery from unusual attitudes: HUD vs. back-up display in a static F/A-18 simulator",
journal="Aviation, space, and environmental medicine",
year="2006",
author="Huber, Samuel W.",
volume="77",
number="4",
pages="444-448",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Spatial disorientation (SD) remains one of the most important causes of fatal fighter aircraft accidents. The aim of this study was to give a recommendation for the use of the head-up display (HUD) or back-up attitude directional indicator (ADI) in a state of spatial disorientation based on the respective performance in an unusual attitude recovery task. METHODS: Seven fighter pilots joining a conversion course to the F/A-18 participated in this study. Flight time will be presented as range (and mean in parentheses). Total military flight experience of the subjects was 835-1759 h (1412 h). Flight time on the F/A-18 was 41-123 h (70 h). The study was performed in a fixed base F/A-18D Weapons Tactics Trainer. We tested the recovery from 11 unusual attitudes and analyzed decision time (DT), total recovery time (TRT), and error rates for the HUD or the back-up ADI. RESULTS: We found no differences regarding either reaction times or error rates. For the HUD we found a DT (mean +/- SD) of 1.3 +/- 0.4 s, a TRT of 9.1 +/- 4.1 s, and an error rate of 29%. For the ADI the respective values were a DT of 1.4 +/- 0.4 s, a TRT of 8.3 +/- 3.8 s, and an error rate of 27%. CONCLUSION: Unusual attitude recoveries are performed equally well using the HUD or the back-up ADI. Switching from one instrument to the other during recovery should be avoided since it would probably result in a loss of time without benefit.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0095-6562",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}