Ergonomic Design
An interesting post Ghengis.
Before we go galloping into ergonomics and SA research, it is of course vital to consider what the particular domain requirements are. GA requirements are going to be vastly different to miltary and civil aircraft - hence the use of display technologies in one domain will not be ideal in another.
It is also a difficult balance when designing cockpits / display layout that you may want to employ 'best practice' but due to existing conventions or current layout (in the case of retro-fit) you have a limited scope to work within.
Back to the topic, airmanship, lookout and SA:
Again, from a professional viewpoint here (Aviation Human Factors). Airmanship is a state of mind......it is instilled from those first flights and represents how you apply captaincy based skills, knowledge and attitudes. These skills, knowledge and attitudes will develop at different speeds during your learning, I believe that attitude is the one factor that can influence the other two and the rate at which progress is made.
Situational Awareness.....hmmm, means different things to different people! Generally it is accepted that SA refers to taking in the information around you, comprehending it, planning ahead for the information and resolving any associated issues.....perhaps all easier said than done! Perhaps what is more useful to the everyday pilot is the issue of 'meta-cognition of SA' - i.e our own awareness of SA, for example, which is more worrying, knowing we have poor SA at one stage during flight...and bearing that in mind when decision making, or thinking wrongly that we have good SA, when indeed we don't.
I.e the crux of SA problems is the difference between perceived and actual SA!
Hope I haven't gone off on a tangent too much, best get back to writing a report (on this very topic)!
Cheers
GQ