Eliciting Knowledge from Helicopter Pilots: Recommendations for Revising the ACTA Method for Helicopter Landing Tasks

Abstract

The task of landing helicopters on ships is cognitively complex and is bounded by several limitations for safe operation. To design technologies to support helicopter pilots in shipboard operations, a better understanding of cognitive processes underlying helicopter piloting in shipboard landing maneuvers is required. Limitations in prior work on ship-based helicopter pilots motivate more studies to better understand how pilots compensate for difficulties associated with ship motion, air turbulence among other factors. We report a preliminary study that used the Applied Cognitive Task Analysis (ACTA) method. We interviewed three participants who have ground-based helicopter piloting experience. The results indicate that ACTA can be used in eliciting knowledge from helicopter pilots. However, we have identified several caveats with the use of the method for this application. The revised method will be used to interview helicopter pilots with shipboard landing experience. Our study has identified a number of cognitive elements in the task which are associated with task management, divided attention, and noticing anomalies.