Recently two commercial airliners have been lost after the aircrew reported smoke within the cockpit. Even though the aircrews were able to don oxygen masks, the aircraft were lost. Contributing to these losses was an inability of the aircrew to read the instrument panel. A recent development incorporates a plastic bag on the instrument panel. This bag inflates and allows the aircrew a better opportunity to read the instruments. Although such a system is a marked improvement, incorporating a display function in the oxygen mask would improve the aircrew's ability to read the instruments and keep the aircrew in the critical 'heads-up' position. This paper details a preliminary set of requirements for a display/tracking system in the aircrew's oxygen masks.

Date Published: 12 July 1999
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 3689, Helmet- and Head-Mounted Displays IV, (12 July 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.352832

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3689:
Helmet- and Head-Mounted Displays IV
Ronald J. Lewandowski; Loran A. Haworth; Henry J. Girolamo, Editor(s)