Design of a Display for Alerting Cockpit Automation Function Configuration Changes

The evolution of automation on the modern airliner flight deck has resulted in a "stack" of functions that has been incrementally "layered" over time to support the flight crew in performing the mission. The stack includes automation functions for: (1) Stability Augmentation and Engine Control for instantaneous control of aerodynamic control surfaces and engines, (2) Autopilot and Autothrottle for tactical control of the trajectory, and (3) Flight Management for strategic flight plan path management and optimization. By engaging/disengaging these functions there are up to 16 combinations of automation function configurations that can be engaged at any time. Due to the evolutionary development of the flight deck, the engagement status of the combination of functions is annunciated in an adhoc, distributed fashion across the flight deck displays. There is no single display of the consolidated automation function configuration.Analysis of the accident scenarios for Controlled Flight into Stall (CFIS) accidents identified a category of accident in which an automation function (e.g. Autothrottle) autonomously dis-engaged without flight crew action. This resulted in the automation flying the aircraft into an aerodynamic stall. Without salient notification of the engagement status change, the flight crew’s ability to mitigate the scenario in a timely manner was curtailed.This paper describes the requirements, design and test plan to provide a single synoptic display of the consolidated automation function configuration status. The display appears whenever a configuration change occurs, otherwise it remains hidden. The implications and limitations of this design are discussed.