TRAC-the development of the next generation tactical transport cockpit

The objective of the TRansport Aircraft Cockpit (TRAC) program is to develop, test, and evaluate a mission-driven crew station design for tactical transport aircraft. This report details the first phase of this program: the evaluation of TRAC´s functional baseline established for (1) primary flight, (2) communication and navigation, and (3) aircraft systems operations. This evaluation was conducted with 14 operational C-141 and C-130 crews “flying” two simulated missions; one with low task-loading and one with high task-loading. Task-load was manipulated in an effort to expose any control and display deficiencies that might not surface in an otherwise uneventful mission. Subjective workload measures were collected using the Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT) and Subjective WORkload Dominance (SWORD). SWAT ratings were used to identify the mission segments with moderate to high workload. SWORD was then employed to identify the control/display systems contributing to workload in those mission segments identified by SWAT. Finally, a systems questionnaire was administered to investigate the operability, intelligibility, effectiveness, and compatibility of each control and display. This paper describes both the process of the TRAC evaluation as well as the evaluation results, and is submitted as a model for man/machine interface evaluations in general