On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:55:42 AM UTC-4, Evan Ludeman wrote:

It's NOT about the blind spot. That's my point. It's about the fact that your perception is otherwise occupied.

I agree that adding a constant stream of "extra information" with a HUD is a very bad idea, but a well-designed HUD interface seems worthy of consideration. For example, having airspeed digits pop up just below the top edge of the glare shield (via HUD), should I get close to stall speed, (because I hit wind shear in the pattern), is something that I would be willing to try. Likewise, a synthetic voice that calmly tells me that my spoilers popped open during takeoff would be worthwhile to consider.

The traditional way of using panel mounted analog instruments is not perfect. Looking down and reading an analog ASI is not a cost-free operation. If HUD allowed us to reduce the size of the traditional instrument panel, say drop the top of the glare shield by six inches, pilots would have a greatly improved field of vision forward.

Likewise down the road, HUD could patch in video images of the blind spots created by the structure of the glider. You could look through your wings to see the glider that is slightly below you in the thermal.

I agree that poorly designed and tested technology (both old and new) makes flying more dangerous for everyone.