Automated Classification of Pilot Errors in Flight Management Operations

This paper introduces Smart Transcript, a tool for automated analysis of pilot action protocols recorded while operating the Flight Management System (FMS) of modern commercial aircrafts. Since errors are valuable indicators of pilots’ mental workload and therefore of the user interface quality, Smart Transcript checks pilot action protocols for occurred user errors. The conceptual model of operator’s tasks, proposed by Rouse and Rouse (), together with its human error categories, was found suitable to classify pilot errors detected in experiments. In addition to traditional approaches, Smart Transcript is a means to evaluate pilot-FMS interfaces objectively and enables comparison of interface alternatives.