Advancing Flight Deck Innovation Through Human Centric Simulation

As avionics technology continues to evolve, ensuring that pilots can safely and intuitively operate future flight decks is more critical than ever. At Honeywell’s facility in Brno, Czech Republic, a state-of-the-art motion simulator is helping bring future avionics concepts closer to operational reality by evaluating how pilots perform in dynamic, realistic flight conditions.

A Simulator Built for the Future of Avionics

The Brno Flight Deck Motion Simulator was developed to support the evaluation of future avionics concepts, with a strong emphasis on touch-based flight deck technologies. While touch interfaces are a current focus, the simulator is adaptable, allowing teams to evaluate a wide range of avionics systems and early-stage prototypes.

By enabling testing earlier in the design lifecycle, the simulator helps ensure that new flight deck solutions are assessed in a representative environment, well before they reach the aircraft.

Realistic Conditions, Validated by Pilots

To accurately reflect real world operations, the simulator uses purpose-built turbulence profiles derived from actual flight data. With motion cues of up to 1G, the system recreates conditions that pilots consistently confirm as highly realistic. This level of fidelity allows evaluators to observe how pilots respond not only to new interfaces, but also to the operational demands introduced by turbulence and dynamic flight scenarios.

Supporting Certification Oriented Evaluations

In 2026, the simulator was put into practice to support its first evaluation for certification credit. These evaluations were coordinated with, and witnessed by a major aviation regulatory authority, underscoring the simulator’s role in enabling meaningful, certification-oriented human factors evaluations.

Measuring What Matters in the Flight Deck

During simulation sessions, key aspects of human performance are assessed, including pilot workload, precision, air resilience, and operational strategies across different interface types. These insights inform design decisions and support the development of flight deck systems that align with real pilot behavior and operational demands.

Integrated Human-in-the-Loop Testing for Real-World Avionics Evaluation

The Brno Flight Deck Motion Simulator is integrated into a comprehensive human-in-the-loop experimental environment, featuring evaluator conductor stations, air traffic controller stations, observer stations, and a dedicated observer room for regulatory authorities. This setup enables coordinated evaluations that closely mirror real operational interactions and oversight requirements. Specifically designed to assess pilot performance with evolving avionics technologies under realistic turbulence, the simulator facilitates certification-oriented evaluations within this holistic framework, ensuring that new flight deck systems are tested not only for functionality, but for real world usability under dynamic conditions.

Because flight decks should not just look good on paper. They need to work when it moves.