Pr efa ce

ORIGINS OF THIS DOCUM ENT

Automation technology, used in the control of aircraft, surface transit vehicles, and
industrial processes for many years, has been revolutionized by the development of
the digital computer. The invention of the transistor in 1947 and subsequent
miniaturization of computer components enabled widespread application of digital
technology in aircraft. The period since 1970 has seen an explosion in aviation
automation technology. In 1987, the Air Transport Association of America (ATA)
Flight Systems Integration Committee established an industry-wide task force to
consider aviation human factors issues.
In its “National Plan to Enhance Aviation Safety through Human Factors
Improvements,” (ATA, 1989) the Human Factors Task Force stated that “During
the 1970s and early 1980s ... the concept of automating as much as possible was
considered appropriate. The expected benefits were a reduction in pilot workload
and increased safety... Although many of these benefits have been realized, serious
questions have arisen and incidents/accidents have occurred which question the
underlying assumptions that the maximum available automation is ALWAYS
appropriate or that we understand how to design automated systems so that they
are fully compatible with the capabilities and limitations of the humans in the
system” (p. 4). The ATA report went on:

The fundamental concern is the lack of a scientifically-based philosophy of

automation which describes the circumstances under which tasks are appropri­
ately allocated to the machine and/or to the pilot. Humans will continue to
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manage and direct the NAS (National Aviation System) through the year 2010.
Automation should therefore be designed to assist and augment the capabilities
of the human managers ... It is vitally important to develop human-centered
automation for the piloted aircraft and controller work station, (p. 5)

During the same year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s
Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology approved a new research initiative,
“Aviation Safety/Automation” (NASA, 1990). Under this initiative, N A SA ’s
Ames and Langley Research Centers were to examine human-machine interactions
in aviation and future aircraft automation options. As a response to the need for a

Billings, CE 2018, Aviation Automation : The Search for a Human-Centered Approach, Chapman and Hall/CRC, Mahwah. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [25 June 2018].
Created from erau on 2018-06-25 17:42:58.
 xii Preface

philosophy of aircraft automation expressed by the ATA, I prepared a N A SA

Technical Memorandum on this topic (Billings, 1991). Four years later, prompted
by increasing operational experience with highly automated aircraft, I revised the
document and expanded it to include consideration of air traffic control and
management automation (Billings, 1996). The 1996 document is the basis for this
book, although I have also attempted to consider lessons learned from other
domains and to add explanatory material which may make the document more
useful to persons not familiar with aviation.

RATIONALE
One need only look back over the developments of the last 20 years to realize how
much has already been done to integrate advanced automation into the aviation
system. Advanced, highly automated aircraft are more productive, more reliable
and safer than their predecessors when managed properly. The aviation system has
been strained beyond its presumed limits, yet remains safe and fairly resilient. The
system is carrying more people, in more airplanes, to more places than at any time
in its history.
Why, then, is this document needed? If the ATA Human Factors Task Force
were beginning its work today, would automation still be at the top of its list of
concerns? Is there any substantive evidence that what we have built to date, and
what we are planning to build during the remainder of this decade, will not continue
to improve upon the progress of the past two decades?
The Task Force’s influence has continued. Aviation automation remains as
important a topic today as it was 5 or 10 years ago. The stresses on the aviation
system have exacted a price; much more of the system’s design capacity is being
used, and all credible projections indicate more serious capacity problems in the
years ahead. The hub-and'Spoke system has created much greater traffic concen­
trations, and thus greater flight crew and controller workloads, at hub terminals at
certain times. Hub-and-spoke implementation has also made the system less
Copyright © 2018. Chapman and Hall/CRC. All rights reserved.

tolerant of delays and cancellations.

Automation has freed the crews of newer aircraft from dependence on point-to-
point systems of navigation aids, but this freedom from defined route constraints
has increased air traffic coordination requirements and has complicated conflict
prediction. Economic constraints have increased the pressure on every human and
machine element of the system. Each of these factors has played a part in increasing
the demand for greater system precision and reliability, and each has shaped, and
continues to shape, the behavior of the human operators of the system.
Technology improvements have increased aircraft and system complexity and
cost. Some, like ground proximity warning systems, have conveyed substantial

Billings, CE 2018, Aviation Automation : The Search for a Human-Centered Approach, Chapman and Hall/CRC, Mahwah. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [25 June 2018].
Created from erau on 2018-06-25 17:42:58.
 Preface xiii

benefits; for some others, like electronic library systems, the benefits appear thus
far to be marginal at best. It can be confidently predicted that other new technology
solutions will be proposed in the future if they appear likely to improve safety or
utility. It is certain that they will impose additional tasks upon the humans who
operate the system. It is only slightly less certain that some or many of these novel
technologies will not operate quite as planned, and that humans will be required to
adapt to, compensate for, and shape the new artifacts, as they have always had to
do when new technology was implemented.
Readers should keep in mind that the “future” aviation system, to a considerable
extent, is with us today. It will rely upon aircraft already in line service (and future
derivatives of those aircraft), just as the majority of today’s modern aircraft are
themselves derivatives of machines developed as long as three decades ago. The
general outlines of the future system can be seen today at any major airport. Even
supersonic transport aircraft, which may represent the most radical future technol­
ogy departure from today’s system, are presaged by the Anglo-French Concorde,
which has been safely flying trans-Atlantic routes for over 20 years.
This is not to say that the system will necessarily operate as does today’s system.
Though the vehicles may appear to be similar, today’s aircraft represent vast
advances over their progenitors. Their automation, in many cases, is two genera­
tions advanced, and the requirements upon the humans who operate them are
considerably different. The Air Traffic Control system today operates much as it
has for the past two decades, but this is about to change. Over the next decade,
radical changes in hardware, software and procedures will result in much more
highly automated systems for air traffic management. These changes will have
profound implications for the pilots, dispatchers and controllers at the “sharp end”
of the aviation system. Today’s system works well, but significant problems exist,
some of which relate directly to the automation that has become an increasingly
important element in its operation.
Aviation is not yet one century old, yet the services it provides have grown over
this time to become an absolutely essential part of our global economy. Those of us
Copyright © 2018. Chapman and Hall/CRC. All rights reserved.

who have been privileged to work within this dynamic, rapidly advancing system
know that we can make the system do more, more effectively. The demands that
will be placed on aviation during the next two decades make it quite obvious that
we must do more; we must develop a still safer, more efficient and more productive
aviation system, and do it quickly. The increasing requirements of users demand
that the system continue to improve. The improvement of the aviation system, and
other complex human-machine systems as well, through more effective coordina­
tion between humans and automation is the goal of this document.
This book is not only about technology, nor only about the human users of
technology. It is about humans and technology, working together in highly dynamic

Billings, CE 2018, Aviation Automation : The Search for a Human-Centered Approach, Chapman and Hall/CRC, Mahwah. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [25 June 2018].
Created from erau on 2018-06-25 17:42:58.
 xiv Preface

and potentially dangerous environments to accomplish social goals, subject to a

multitude of social, political and technical constraints.

ACKNOW LEDGMENTS

I am grateful to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for its support
of my studies of aviation automation during and since my tenure at Ames Research
Center. Many colleagues at Ames, and at the Langley Research Center, have been
most generous with their encouragement and criticism of this work.
Since my return to The Ohio State University in 1992, Professors David D.
Woods and Philip J. Smith have fostered my understanding of cognitive engineering
and have helped me plan, organize and execute this book. Dr. Nadine Sarter,
Research Associate, and Sidney Dekker, my graduate assistant, have shaped my
understanding of the cognitive bases of the human-machine interaction process
and have been especially helpful in this effort.
Delmar Fadden, of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, has been a superb
teacher and constructive critic of my attempts to understand why today’s aircraft
have developed as they have. The Air Transport Association of America’s Flight
Systems Integration Committee Chair, Capt. Robert Buley, and its Executive
Secretary, Will Russell of ATA, provided insights and encouragment over a long
period of time. I am also indebted to the others who have reviewed the manuscript,
among them Donald Armstrong, Kevin Corker, Ted Demosthenes, Joan Eggspue-
hier, John Enders, Victor Lebacqz, Richard Pew, Guy Thiele, and N A SA Aviation
Safety Reporting System personnel, especially Vincent Mellone. I am particularly
grateful for the invaluable guidance provided by John Lauber, who has shared his
insights into the realities of aviation operations and aviation safety throughout the
22 years of our collaboration. Finally, I acknowledge with very special gratitude the
indispensable support and tolerance of my dear wife, Lillian.

— Charles E. Billings
Copyright © 2018. Chapman and Hall/CRC. All rights reserved.

Billings, CE 2018, Aviation Automation : The Search for a Human-Centered Approach, Chapman and Hall/CRC, Mahwah. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [25 June 2018].
Created from erau on 2018-06-25 17:42:58.