Comparison of Aircraft Controls for Prone and Seated Position in Three-dimensional Pursuit Task

"One hundred and eleven university students were divided into four groups. Each group was tested on the same psycho--motor pursuit task but utilized different controls. Two of the groups operated their controls from the seated position, and two from the prone position. One of the seated groups used the conventional stick and rudder controls, and the second seated group together with one of the prone--position groups employed a three--dimensional hand control. The second prone--position group used the Amptmann three--dimensional control. The results indicated that for either of the positions, seated or prone, the type of control utilized made little or no difference as far as performance on the pursuit task was concerned. However, performance in the prone position was found to be significantly inferior to that in the seated position. The indications are, therefore, that for this kind of task the type of control is relatively unimportant but the position of the pilot's body may be a prime consideration."--Abstract.