Investigating pilots’ operational behaviours while interacting with different types of inceptors

There are different designs of inceptors applied in the modern flight deck. How do pilots define how to precisely control the aircraft as their intention? Ten pilots have been asked to take part in the flight simulation trials. They were given tasks to execute using sidestick, Xbox gamepad and touchscreen controller and provide feedback using the System Usability Scale. The aim was to investigate the feasibility of replacing conventional inceptors in aircraft. The results have shown that there is a potential in introducing alternate Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) methods in the flight deck, especially in terms of learnability, however there is still a lot of work before it happens. This paper summarises the ‘pilot study’ results and shows the potential for further research.