Worst parts of flying an aircraft

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lux Miri

Filing Flight Plan
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Hi! I’m a young student researcher conducting an academic research project on cockpit ergonomics, pilot workload, and fatigue in U.S. commercial aviation. If you are a pilot (student, regional, or airline), I would really appreciate your input. This is for a school project

My biggest question is, if you were to change something about a cockpit, what would it be?

My second biggest question would be what model of plane do you find yourself flying in the most?

Thanks
 
lux Miri said:
Hi! I’m a young student researcher conducting an academic research project on cockpit ergonomics, pilot workload, and fatigue in U.S. commercial aviation. If you are a pilot (student, regional, or airline), I would really appreciate your input. This is for a school project

My biggest question is, if you were to change something about a cockpit, what would it be?

My second biggest question would be what model of plane do you find yourself flying in the most?

Thanks
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Years ago, before electronic displays, manufacturers agreed to put the “6 pack” - instruments vital to instrument flight- in a standard configuration. (Airspeed Indicator, Attitude Indicator, Altimeter, Turn Coordinator, Heading Indicator, and Vertical Speed Indicator.)

It would be nice to have a standard interface for radios. I rent many different individual airplanes, and many have radio interfaces which take thought for me to decipher.

Personally I fly a piper archer (pa 28-181) most frequently, followed by Cessna 182 models.

Happy to talk more here or via another method if that helps
 
SFDukie said:
It would be nice to have a standard interface...
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:yeahthat:

All the tech advancements are great. But jumping from one plane to the next should not require hours of ground study just to learn how different vendors move through different menus for the same outcome.
 
SkyGazer said:
:yeahthat:

All the tech advancements are great. But jumping from one plane to the next should not require hours of ground study just to learn how different vendors move through different menus for the same outcome
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I found that was true for a lot of people in my pre-research.
 
SFDukie said:
Years ago, before electronic displays, manufacturers agreed to put the “6 pack” - instruments vital to instrument flight- in a standard configuration. (Airspeed Indicator, Attitude Indicator, Altimeter, Turn Coordinator, Heading Indicator, and Vertical Speed Indicator.)

It would be nice to have a standard interface for radios. I rent many different individual airplanes, and many have radio interfaces which take thought for me to decipher.

Personally I fly a piper archer (pa 28-181) most frequently, followed by Cessna 182 models.

Happy to talk more here or via another method if that helps
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your reply.
 
Just though of another item.

Touch screens are great. But they make changes when a body part is close enough to, but not actually touching, the screen. Result is not knowing what the device is now doing, and it turns into a scramble to figure out and correct. Gets even more fun in turbulence.
 
I fly a Beechcraft Musketeer. I, like many small stature pilots, have to use a seat cushion for extra height in the pilot’s seat. Some planes have seats that are vertically adjustable, but many do not, and that’s a feature I’d really appreciate.
 
For avionics, (I find) touch-screen type interface brutal in turbulence.
Do, mistake, un-do, start again …
and the ‘bezel’ designs as a support when using touch-screen, not helpful.

For panel-mounted, gimme buttons and knob turning, push, pull.
 
MikeNY said:
For avionics, (I find) touch-screen type interface brutal in turbulence.
Do, mistake, un-do, start again …
and the ‘bezel’ designs as a support when using touch-screen, not helpful.

For panel-mounted, gimme buttons and knob turning, push, pull.
Click to expand...
I find bezels work very well for touch screens in turbulence. No issues.
 
lux Miri said:
Hi! I’m a young student researcher conducting an academic research project on cockpit ergonomics, pilot workload, and fatigue in U.S. commercial aviation.

Thanks
Click to expand...

This forum deals mainly with private, personal-use aviation and only touches commercial aviation tangentially. Most of the responses you've received (and are likely to receive) will be for those small aircraft in personal, private use. If your project is focused exclusively on commercial aviation, you will need to filter out responses that discuss general aviation. You could also broaden the scope of the project and touch on those problems facing private owners. If you really want to go the extra mile (and broaden the scope to general aviation), you could find a flight school and ask for a Discovery Flight.
 
Modern electronics used in cockpits are amazing and allow display customization that grants each pilot user the opportunity to set up and display information in tune with their own preferences, i.e., North up or track up / moving map versus textual / engine and warning messages (or not) where they prefer to see them, etc.

It's clear to me that every pilot processes display information differently, and wherever possible the ability to display information in the manner that best works for them is a great advantage. Flying their own aircraft, some pilots leave the avionic manufacturer's default settings in place, and others extensively customize.

Standardization of avionics would be good thing if you're piloting multiple aircraft. However flying your own plane, setting up and presenting information in the manner that best fits an individual pilot's method of processing information is an outstanding advantage.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
This forum deals mainly with private, personal-use aviation and only touches commercial aviation tangentially. Most of the responses you've received (and are likely to receive) will be for those small aircraft in personal, private use. If your project is focused exclusively on commercial aviation, you will need to filter out responses that discuss general aviation. You could also broaden the scope of the project and touch on those problems facing private owners. If you really want to go the extra mile (and broaden the scope to general aviation), you could find a flight school and ask for a Discovery Flight.
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Gotta echo this. I think you want to try your survey on pprune.org or one of the career-pilot forums which somehow are even crabbier than us clown-plane pilots :D
 
I don't have any experience, but it's the Internet so I'll jump in anyway. I'd vote for boring or unattractive fellow crew members, followed by not enough room and stale air.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
This forum deals mainly with private, personal-use aviation and only touches commercial aviation tangentially. Most of the responses you've received (and are likely to receive) will be for those small aircraft in personal, private use. If your project is focused exclusively on commercial aviation, you will need to filter out responses that discuss general aviation. You could also broaden the scope of the project and touch on those problems facing private owners. If you really want to go the extra mile (and broaden the scope to general aviation), you could find a flight school and ask for a Discovery Flight.
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Yes, I plan to compare and contrast, so a private pilot perspective is still useful. Usually, in research, you try to contextualize your paper, which is what I'm trying to do with this forum.
 
schmookeeg said:
Gotta echo this. I think you want to try your survey on pprune.org or one of the career-pilot forums which somehow are even crabbier than us clown-plane pilots :D
Click to expand...
Haha, thank you. That was the next part of my research.
 
Albany Tom said:
I don't have any experience, but it's the Internet so I'll jump in anyway. I'd vote for boring or unattractive fellow crew members, followed by not enough room and stale air.
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Well, thank you. But I don't think I'll be putting that in my paper.
 
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