The effect of an advisory system on pilots' go/no-go decision during take-off

The take-off phase of modem airliners is a relatively critical phase of flight. Thus, about 12% of all civil aviation accidents happen during take-off. In this paper we describe results of an experimental study of a prototype cockpit advisory take-off monitoring system designed to help pilots to make better and safer go/no-go decisions in the case of abnormal events during take-off. We describe, first, the basic aspects of the take-off task and, second, some of the information processing and risk assessment problems involved in making go/no-go decisions at high speeds during take-off. Third, we describe a prototype advisory take-off monitoring system (ATOMS), which as the result of a research project, has been designed to improve pilots' judgement of acceleration and deceleration during the take-off roll. Fourth, we report on results of an experimental study of this prototype system in a full-flight simulator - results that indicate that ATOMS has a promising potential to improve take-off safety. Finally, we discuss implications of the experimental results for systems support for pilots during take-off. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.