In order to fly legally and safely in poor visibility conditions, a pilot must have an instrument rating. For general aviation, however, the 'instruments' in use today have undergone virtually negligible changes in the fifty- plus years since the instrument landing system (ILS) was introduced. All instrument rated pilots are familiar with the difficult transition in learning to fly by instruments instead of by the usual visual cues. Although quantum leaps have been achieved in the development of navigational aids recently (i.e., GPS), such has not been the case for cockpit instrumentation. Ideally, the provision of a computer-generated "out-the-window" display would allow new and low-time instrument pilots to fly in low-visibility conditions with reduced need for extensive initial and recurrent training. Although the aforementioned advanced displays have been under development for the last ten years, in virtually every case a "head-down" installation has been implemented (see references [1]-[4]). The major drawback of a head-down display is the need to divide ones attention between the display and the windshield (i.e., stay on the final approach course but also look for the runway). In multi-crew cockpits, the aforementioned concern is a non-issue. Such is not the case for low-end general aviation (GA), however. This paper discusses the work being conducted at Ohio University to develop a low-cost display for GA that involves a 'head-up' view. Note that this is not a Heads Up Display (HUD) in the traditional sense in terms of hardware and installation. Rather, a high quality image is projected onto the windshield thus allowing for simultaneous viewing of the display along with monitoring of the out-the-window view. The paper will review the current state-of-the-art of advanced cockpit displays and will also discuss the relevant human-factors issues involved. Finally the paper will detail the design of the Ohio University display prototype and highlight recent flight test results.
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