| Summary: | Current advanced commercial transport aircraft, such as the Boeing B777/B747-400, the
Airbus A320/A340 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, rely on AutoFlight Systems (AFS) for
flight management, navigation and inner loop control. These systems have evolved from
straightforward autopilots into multiple computers capable of sophisticated and interrelated
tasks. These tasks span the range from high level flight management to low level inner loop
control. In addition, these systems provide envelope protection to prevent pilots from committing
mistakes such as stalling the aircraft or lowering flaps at high speeds.
Unfortunately, as these systems have become more complex and interconnected, a new class
of problems has developed associated with pilots’ interaction with the automation. Many
incidents have been reported where there exists some confusion between the pilots’ expectations
of the AFS and what the system is actually doing (Corwin, 1995). This confusion has been
termed a Mode Awareness Problem (MAP).
After a description of the AFS, a formal definition of mode awareness problems is presented
in Section 1.3 followed by representative incidents in which mode awareness problems are
suspected as being a contributory factor.
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