Visual Cues in Manual Landing of Airplanes

This paper discusses recent findings in ongoing research on the visual cues that pilots use when landing airplanes. An overview is given of the many visual cues that have been proposed in literature. Some are widely accepted as `important cue\u27in a certain phase or for a certain decision, others are controversial. Specifically the cues used to time the flare maneuver are discussed in this contribution. The flare is a pitch-up maneuver a few seconds before touchdown, in order to decrease sink rate and land on the main landing gear first, and therefore its timing and accuracy/ of performance are critical for a safe and comfortable landing. Analysis of human pilot control in real and simulated landings of mid-size aircraft in previous research has suggested a new cue on which the pilot seems to base the timing of the flare maneuver: the speed at which the apparent angle between the runway sidelines increases (theta-dot). The current research further investigates the theta-dot cue through mathematical analysis and using data obtained from flight simulator landings.Partof "Proceedings of KSAS/JSASS Joint International Symposium on Aerospace Engineering