Influence of Operational Factors on Importance of Scene Properties for Visual Low-Altitude Flight

摘要

Limitations in computer image generation (CIG) and display technology precludeflight simulator visual scenes that contain all of the variety and complexity found in real-world scenes. A fundamental question facing designers of flight simulator visual scenes concerns which specific scene properties are most important to pilots. Previous research has revealed two dimensions of real-world scenes that are important to pilots in the context of visual low-altitude flight: (a) variation in terrain contour mediated by presence/absence of hills and ridges, and (b) variation in the conspicuity of objects in scenes mediated by size, spacing, contrast and familiar appearance (Kleiss, 1990, 1992). Importance of scene properties may reflect basic visual abilities that underlie normal envIronmental interaction or learning associated with this activity. If so, the same simulator scenes would be likely to be effective across a range of training situations. However, low-altitude flight may impose unique demands on pilots such that they become attuned to different scene properties with experience. In this event, effective training would require consideration of these differences in the design of simulator visual scenes. Results reported by Kleiss (1990) tend to support this latter possibility. Two A-1O pilots weighted Dimension 2, object size and spacing, disproportionately more heavily than Dimension 1, variation in terrain contour, in contrast to 13 pilots of A-7 and F-5 aircraft in a sample. Subsequent replications of this experiment with two samples totaling 33 F-4 and F- 16 pilots revealed only one additional pilot who showed a similar disproportionate weighting of the objects dimension compared to terrain contour dimension (Kleiss, 1992).