From the first Wright flight to today's high performance aircraft there has been one common piece of hardware, the pilot and their unmatched human abilities. In today's aircraft though, a huge influx of cockpit information coupled with the most crowded skies in aviation history it is not uncommon for aircraft to highlight the lapse of or lack of human ability. With this in mind aviation has begun an all out battle in combating the limiting human factors in aviation, while maximizing the beneficial human factors. The Heads Up Display or HUD is proving itself to be one of the prime time players. HUD's have came along way from their maiden flights " in military applications back in WWII as illuminated gun and bomb sights"(Professional Pilot, Oct 1998, P. 82) to today's sophisticated devices with holographic data displays. .
Heads Up Display's are compromised of four major components. These components are a central computer, control unit, overhead projector and holographic combining lens, which together provide the pilot with an approximate 30-degree by 25-degree field of view. "HUD's range from simple field of vision repeaters of flight instrument readouts" (Professional Pilot, Feb 1997, P. 60) to fully integrated full function HUD's which display such information as TCAS and diversion path vectors. These user friendly pieces of equipment are all illuminated green to provide the maximum visual acuity at all levels of light all while allowing "unwanted symbols to be removed from view by an anti-clutter feature" (Interavia, Jan/Feb 1997,p.32). .
At the very least any type of modern day aircraft HUD can be used as a cross-reference for conventional heading devices and attitude indicators.
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When visibility is poor, pilots are forced to rely on six different instruments that give data about speed, direction, how fast they"re ascending or descending and altitude. The altimeter, which calculates altitude, actually measures the distance above sea level, not the ground.
