Pilot Evaluations of Runway Status Light System

Abstract This study focuses on use of the Transport Systems Research Vehicle (TSRV) Sim-ulator at the Langley Research Center to obtain pilot opinion and input on the Fed-eral Aviation Administration's Runway Status Light System (RWSL) prior toinstallation in an operational airport environment. The RWSL has been designed toreduce the likelihood of runway incursions by visually alerting pilots when a runwayis occupied. Demonstrations of the RWSL in the TSRV Simulator allowed pilots toevaluate the system in a realistic cockpit environment. 1. Introduction Air traffic is expected to increase significantly in the21st century. With geographical, environmental, andzoning restrictions placed on most major U.S. airports,expansion is severely constrained. Therefore, action mustbe taken to increase the capacity and safety of existingairport facilities. One area of focus is the airport surfacemovement area (ASMA). The Federal Aviation Admin-istration (FAA) has established Airport Surface TrafficAutomation (ASTA) programs to enhance safety and tooptimize the flow of traffic on the airport surface. Theseprograms include the Surface Movement Advisor(SMA), the Airport Movement Area Safety System(AMASS), the Aircraft Tagging and Identifier System(ATIDS), and the Runway Status Light System (RWSL). These programs address the various ASTA issues byproviding air traffic controllers, airline personnel, andairfield management with positive identification of sur-face targets on the movement area; providing pilots withairfield safety alerts; providing controllers with auto-mated warnings of potential and actual runway incur-sions; providing a surface traffic planning capability; andproviding an automated method of sending instructions(e.g., taxi route clearances) to aircraft.Similarly, the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) Terminal Area Productivity(TAP) program is focused on providing technology andoperating procedures for safely achieving clear-weathercapacities in instrument-weather conditions. In coopera-tion with the FAA, NASA's approach is to develop anddemonstrate airborne and ground technology and proce-dures to safely reduce aircraft spacing in the terminalarea, enhance air traffic management, reduce controllerworkload, improve low-visibility landing and surfaceoperations, and integrate aircraft and air traffic systems.Because of LaRC's history of high-fidelity flightsimulation tests (refs. 1-3), realistic cockpit environ-ments, and common interests in safely improving termi-nal area productivity under the TAP program, the FAAand the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center(Volpe Center) requested that LaRC conduct a flight sim-ulation study that would implement a conceptual proto-type and also allow for pilot evaluations of the RWSL.This paper describes the simulation effort conducted aspart of the FAA's RWSL program and the NASA LaRCTAP program.The primary goal of the study was to obtain pilotopinion of the potential usefulness of this lighting systemfor reducing the likelihood of runway incursions on theairport surface. To accomplish this, several incursion sit-uations were introduced, as well as normal operationalsituations, to allow pilots to observe the behavior of thesystem under various conditions. No attempt was madeto acquire statistical data that would quantify the effec-tiveness of the RWSL.Secondary goals were to (1) determine the impact ofthe system in a realistic cockpit environment (e.g., Is thesystem confusing? Does it add to pilot workload? );(2) provide suggestions on design issues such as lightsize, directionality, and location; and (3) acquire sug-gestions for operational procedures and areas ofimprovement.