Evaluation of a collision avoidance display to support pilots´ mental workload in a free flight environment

Air traffic is expected to double in the next two decades. The possibility of pilots´ mental workload and midair collisions will increase therefore. To support the growing air traffic under the free flight environment, new systems, procedures and self-separation as compared to current Air Traffic Management System will be introduced. Pilots´ self-separation is a new task. This new task may pose a challenge to both pilots and air traffic controllers (ATC) in conflict situations. Thus, imposes a new mental workload. An innovative collision avoidance display has been developed to support pilots´ mental workload in a free flight environment. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Flight Collision Avoidance System (FCAS) display as compared with a contemporary instrumentation. The results suggest a decrease in pilots´ mental workload is a viable proposition for complex flight tasks.