Re-envisioning Interaction in the (General) Aviation Cockpit through Tangibles

Abstract

Lowering pilot workload is a crucial challenge in general aviation (GA). GA refers to the branch of aviation characterized by non-professional and non-commercial pilot operations. Today’s digital technology support in these flight operations is mostly limited to consumer tablets and navigation apps. Researchers and practitioners envision increased pilot support in the near future through mixed-reality applications and additional machine-supported systems. Controlling, filtering, and manipulating this wealth of new digital data introduced in the GA cockpit will require new tangible input and output techniques and devices. While this is especially true in the mostly tight and shaky cockpits of small GA aircraft, we see opportunities for the design of tangibles used in other branches of aviation and even in autonomous or drone operations. To this end, we want to bring together researchers and practitioners concerned with the design of future aviation cockpits and work on a strategy to develop dedicated scientific outlets for HCI and tangible interaction research in (general) aviation.