An Augmented Reality Pilot Assistance Concept for Advanced Air Mobility Aircraft Employing Simplified Vehicle Operations

The introduction of Advanced Air Mobility vehicles brings both opportunities and challenges for their safe operation. The proposed use of the Simplified Vehicle Operations concept aims to simplify the task of controlling piloted electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft, thereby reducing pilot workload and potentially enabling minimally-trained pilots to operate them safely. In addition to simplifying control tasks, Augmented Reality can further assist pilots by overlaying crucial information onto the environment at relevant locations. A dynamic guidance can adjust to the current flight task and situation. This paper presents an Augmented Reality assistance concept specifically designed for the Advanced Air Mobility context. The concept was implemented in a research flight simulator and evaluated through a user study. The results demonstrate the importance of supporting minimally trained pilots across various flight tasks. Moreover, Augmented Reality has proven to be an intuitive and effective tool for creating an assistance system that enhances pilot performance.