Aerospace Case Study · Professional UX · 2022
GA Flightdeck UX
Note: This case study illustrates my general approach to problem-solving and product design & development (created prior to the use of AI). The core framework applies to any project, though timeline, scale, and complexity will vary. With the rise of agentic workflows making execution significantly faster, determining what to build and ensuring it delivers real value rather than functional slop is more critical than ever.
Overview
An exploration into general aviation flight deck UX and human factors. Becoming a pilot sparked my curiosity as a product designer to ask: why was the flight deck designed this way, and what would it look like if designed from scratch? Legacy systems often carry constraints from a bygone era, limitations we no longer face, but that still artificially restrict what we can achieve today.
Problem
Many GA accidents can be traced back to human factors, such as pilot error, poor decision-making, inadequate training, or fatigue. Cockpit design plays a crucial role in ensuring safety, efficiency, and pilot comfort.
The flight deck as a working environment
The challenge is showing relationship between layers of information. Every element needed to support the pilot's scan, reinforce the aircraft's state. While technology has advanced significantly, solving key flight deck challenges requires both investment in new tech and a stronger focus on human factors. GA pilots face unique hurdles: modern technology is less accessible, and flying is often recreational, closer to weekend driving and a daily commute.
Starting with the pilot's scan
In modern GA glass cockpits, the traditional T-scan where a pilot's eyes constantly bounce between six separate analog gauges has been replaced by a single, integrated primary flight display. The scan now anchors tightly on the central attitude indicator and integrated horizontal situation indicator, while vertical scrolling tapes monitor airspeed and altitude on the flanks. Instead of searching across the panel to piece together the aircraft's state, pilots use this unified hub to read dynamic trend vectors, allowing them to anticipate pitch and speed changes before they happen. However, this shift requires monitoring flight mode annunciators at the top of the screen to maintain awareness of autopilot states, fundamentally changing how cognitive load is distributed across the instrument panel.
Research findings
This integration solves data fragmentation but introduces distinct human factors challenges, most notably high-density visuals that make rapid changes harder to process at a glance during high-workload phases. Because engine parameters and secondary systems are often relegated to thin side strips on a secondary multifunction display, pilots frequently skip their engine scan until a warning sounds.
From data to decisions
Aircraft systems produce an enormous amount of data, but pilots do not need every value to have equal visual weight. I separated information into three layers: what the pilot must know continuously, what needs attention when it changes, and what should be available when investigated. This creates a calm baseline while preserving the detail required for abnormal conditions. Colour, scale, position, and motion work together as signals, not decoration, so a change in aircraft state can be understood at a glance.
Information architecture
My approach began with the way pilots already work: scanning attitude, airspeed, altitude, heading, and vertical movement as one connected system rather than reading isolated widgets. That scan became the foundation for the layout. Primary flight information stays central and stable, while navigation, engine, and systems information is organised around it in predictable zones.
Formfactor explorations
Human Factors and Display Installation: Evaluated ergonomic display placement for optimizing interface accessibility, typography scale, and physical-to-digital interactions.
Physical Anchors
From an industrial design perspective, hardware and software must function as a single, cohesive system. The layout of physical push-buttons and primary flight controls directly dictates how a pilot anchors their hand while interacting with high-density PFD and MFD layouts. By designing physical bezel interactions, knob profiles, and primary control surfaces in tandem with the visual hierarchy, the concept reinforces muscle memory across every phase of flight.
Designing for eyes-up engagement
The interface should help the pilot spend more time looking outside the aircraft, not compete for attention. I explored ways to bring the most actionable flight and navigation cues into a compact visual field, reducing the need to move between disconnected displays. The result keeps the aircraft's current state, intended path, and immediate constraints legible together.
A system, not a single screen
The final concept was treated as a design system for flight rather than a one-off screen. Typography, colour, symbology, spacing, and interaction behaviour were considered as a consistent language that could scale across aircraft and mission phases.
Outcome
Flight-deck Experience is an exploration of how thoughtful information architecture can make advanced avionics feel more intuitive without making them less capable. It demonstrates a possible approach to avionics design: respect the trained behaviour of the user, make the system's state legible, reduce unnecessary cognitive translation, and design every visual decision around the moment it will be used.