Genghis, I agree with most of your post, but “ In practice most manufacturers have an unfortunate tendency to keep these designs away from the test pilots and other professionals … , IMHO not so.
I was fortunate to have been involved in several design / developments of flight deck systems during the ‘expansive’ transition with the first generation EFIS and digital guidance. The flight test and designed teams were integrated; I was ‘the pilot in design’ with considerable sway in the design process and held responsibility for co-ordinating inputs from test pilots, trainers, and operators.
My contemporary test pilots in major manufacturers and regional design teams had similar access and responsibility.
S.L.F., some good points.
Understanding humans in designing a flight deck (or anything else) should start with understanding yourself.
badrace. Consider how ‘you’ fly an aircraft, how each instrument / control is used, and in what circumstances. Then choose or define a suitable description for the instrument, explain why each differs from any other, how each aspect works, e.g. dial ASI with needle (and digital counter), needle angular position on the dial, rate of change, limits, colour, etc. How are these features might be used for configuration change, low / high speed alerting, flight path transitions climb/cruise/descent, i.e. when do you look at the ASI - why.
In your task you might wish to compare the aircraft which you have operated, but the types quoted (MD vs Airbus) might cause problems with diverse philosophies; a simpler task could be to compare the alternatives of strip and dial formats for the 737 EFIS PFD.
Always ask questions – about the display and yourself. For some interesting debates consider strip speed; why do they have trend vectors, what is the source of the information and how might it work during a stall? What is the ASI display size relative to dials – and think about area as well as length.
Why do some strip altimeters have small chevrons about the datum value or on the moving scale?
What are the important aspects of a display format … … the items which are removed to de-clutter it.
You can make what ever you wish of the subject, but IMHO you will never satisfy ‘a pilot’, at best you hope for a balanced debate, preferably with you holding the high ground of safety and simplicity.