n important aspect to enable seamless transition
to touchscreen flight decks from older knob and
button-operated avionics is the skillset pilots
need to develop, and this will ultimately be
developed through training.
The fact that smartphones and tablet computers have
become mainstream is already a powerful enabler of
touchscreen flight deck technology, notes Greg Crawford,
associate director, avionics system engineering, Collins
Aerospace.
“Touch phones, tablets and computers are in everyone’s
daily lives and have shown to be simple and intuitive to use
in general,” he elaborates. “Touchscreens in aviation have
the same effect; they provide the ability to make the
interaction points simpler to understand and utilize.“Therefore, training is not expected to have a major
impact.”
Paul Damschen, senior flight test pilot/DER at Universal
Avionics agrees, noting that generally pilots do not need to
develop any new skillsets, especially if they’re familiar with
typical Smartphone or iPad devices, which most crews use
now to manage their IFR charts. “Training requirements
typically surround the specifics of the user interface, in terms
of the design philosophy of the user interface, and how to
access and input information to the system,” he points out.
“A well-designed Touch user interface can and should be
more intuitive than a traditional mechanical interface that
cannot be easily adapted or changed to fit the mission for
the airplane.”
Garmin adds that it’s integral that pilots familiarize112 Vol 23 Issue 8 2019 AVBUYERMAGAZINE http://www.AVBUYER.com
AVIONICSTouchscreen Avionics:
What are the Benefits & Challenges?
(Part 2 )
How can a pilot ensure safe transition to touchscreen avionics?
What are the benefits they’ll gain in the cockpit, and how do these
stack against the challenges? Mario Pierobon asks the industry...
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