Aircraft require high cognitive quality aircraft attitude information. Evidence will be presented on aircrew decision-making performance on an unusual attitude recovery task using three different types of attitude displays. Results indicated that among a sample of low-flight time student pilots attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, mean reaction times were significantly faster and error rates significantly lower using an outside-in pictorial display than with either an outside-in symbolic display or an attitude gyro. This is attributed to the pictorial display being a more intuitive display by providing a more natural or realistic representation of aircraft orientation than the other two displays. The attitude gyro may violate the pilot's mental model of motion relationships with the world, in which the aircraft, not the horizon, is the dynamic element. While the symbolic display does not do this, it does use complex coding of information which appears to require higher level cognitive processing than the pictorial display.
","abstract_html":"<p>Aircraft require high cognitive quality aircraft attitude information. Evidence will be presented on aircrew decision-making performance on an unusual attitude recovery task using three different types of attitude displays. Results indicated that among a sample of low-flight time student pilots attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, mean reaction times were significantly faster and error rates significantly lower using an outside-in pictorial display than with either an outside-in symbolic display or an attitude gyro. This is attributed to the pictorial display being a more intuitive display by providing a more natural or realistic representation of aircraft orientation than the other two displays. The attitude gyro may violate the pilot's mental model of motion relationships with the world, in which the aircraft, not the horizon, is the dynamic element. While the symbolic display does not do this, it does use complex coding of information which appears to require higher level cognitive processing than the pictorial display.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cohoes, Christopher"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Aeronautical Science","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Aeronautical Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["John A. Wise, Ph. D.","David W. Abbott, Ph. D.","Daniel J. Garland, Ph. D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1996,"date_issued":"1996-04-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1996-04-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:10Z","subjects":["Aerospace Engineering","Aviation"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/34","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["John A. Wise, Ph. D.","David W. Abbott, Ph. D.","Daniel J. Garland, Ph. D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cohoes, Christopher"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aeronautical Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Aeronautical Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Aerospace Engineering","Aviation"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/34"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Aircraft require high cognitive quality aircraft attitude information. Evidence will be presented on aircrew decision-making performance on an unusual attitude recovery task using three different types of attitude displays. Results indicated that among a sample of low-flight time student pilots attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, mean reaction times were significantly faster and error rates significantly lower using an outside-in pictorial display than with either an outside-in symbolic display or an attitude gyro. This is attributed to the pictorial display being a more intuitive display by providing a more natural or realistic representation of aircraft orientation than the other two displays. The attitude gyro may violate the pilot's mental model of motion relationships with the world, in which the aircraft, not the horizon, is the dynamic element. While the symbolic display does not do this, it does use complex coding of information which appears to require higher level cognitive processing than the pictorial display.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Comparison of Two Geo-Centric Attitude Indicators as Aids to Unusual Attitude Recovery: Pictorial vs. Symbolic Displays"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["John A. Wise, Ph. D.","David W. Abbott, Ph. D.","Daniel J. Garland, Ph. D."],"dc:creator":["Cohoes, Christopher"],"dc:description.abstract":["Aircraft require high cognitive quality aircraft attitude information. Evidence will be presented on aircrew decision-making performance on an unusual attitude recovery task using three different types of attitude displays. Results indicated that among a sample of low-flight time student pilots attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, mean reaction times were significantly faster and error rates significantly lower using an outside-in pictorial display than with either an outside-in symbolic display or an attitude gyro. This is attributed to the pictorial display being a more intuitive display by providing a more natural or realistic representation of aircraft orientation than the other two displays. The attitude gyro may violate the pilot's mental model of motion relationships with the world, in which the aircraft, not the horizon, is the dynamic element. While the symbolic display does not do this, it does use complex coding of information which appears to require higher level cognitive processing than the pictorial display.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/34"],"dc:subject":["Aerospace Engineering","Aviation"],"dc:title":["A Comparison of Two Geo-Centric Attitude Indicators as Aids to Unusual Attitude Recovery: Pictorial vs. Symbolic Displays"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aeronautical Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Aeronautical Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:10Z"}