UWE Bristol Engineering showcase 2015

Sören Schwert
MEng Aerospace Design Engineering
Project Supervisor
Dr. Pritesh Narayan
Quick Reference Application for Airline Pilots
Background
To assure the safety of the flight, the flight crew
and all passengers, airline pilots are obligated to
ensure that their aircraft meets all requirements
for airworthiness. The checks that are performed
also include a visual inspection of the exterior of
the aircraft during a walkaround. On this outside
check, which has to be conducted before every
flight, a pilot examines his aircraft for damages,
leaks, wear and tear and everything else that
could affect its reliability.
Application Interface
The interface has been designed with a clear
structure to the information and a sense for
direction of movement, in order that navigating
the application would be intuitive and would not
require extensive training for new users.
Editor Modus
To enable authorised users to amend and modify
existing information or to add and delete content,
an editor mode has also been implemented into
the application.
Project summary
Before each flight, a pilot has to check the exterior of
his or her aircraft during a walkaround. In the event
that the pilot comes across a problem with an item
on the aircraft’s exterior, he or she has to consult one
of the many manuals or lists. Since there are
numerous objects on the outside of an aircraft, it can
be a tedious and time consuming task to navigate
through the extensive documentation and to find the
required entry.
Motivation
It can be a laborious task for pilots to find
guidelines, a required entry in the Operating
Manual or the Minimum Equipment List, for nonstandard
items they encounter during the
walkaround. It often means skimming through
extensive documentation, or asking for a
technician, to determine whether a specific
problem compromises the airworthiness of the
aircraft or under which conditions it can still be
operated. This process often causes delays which
are expensive for the airline.
Project Objectives
We aimed to develop a working software solution
that helps pilots find information quickly and
efficiently. This mainly entails investigating the level
of knowledge that is required to be presented to the
user and researching interaction methods that make
the application as intuitive to use as possible. Other
important issues to be considered are the design of
the interface and how all the information is
presented to pilots, in order to be comprehensive but
still quickly readable and easily understandable.
Solution
The goal of an international European airline is to
provide their pilots with an application for their
Electronic Flight Bag computers that leverages
today’s technologies to help pilots find essential
information and data more quickly and effectively.
This Quick Reference Application should collect all
the distributed information necessary during the
outside check into a short description for each
item, should enable a quick assessment of an
item’s condition and should also include
references to the corresponding documentation.
Project Conclusion
While developing the Quick Reference application,
several interaction patterns and user guidance
methods have been investigated. A working software
solution was implemented that puts great focus on
intuitive navigation and a modern visual identity.
During final evaluation and testing, if was found that
the application fulfils the company’s expectations and
requirements and will go forward into on-the-job
user testing within the airline in the summer.