Clearing message alerts

[KRviator]

G'day folks,

Not sure if this is the design intent or a previously uncomplained-about feature of SkyView, however, I've noticed that any cautions or warnings that appear in the message window do not clear so long as the message window is up.

I've configured my P-mag's to show both power supplied and ignition "on", and when these conditions aren't met, they show as a contact-low warning, though they are set to self-clear, they are not latching alarms. IT was here that I found out the contact-low warnings wouldn't disappear when I powered the P-mags on with the message window open, but clear the window and reselect it and the contact-low alarms aren't shown, as you would expect. Presumably, any new warnings or cautions wouldn't be shown in the message window until you close it, too, but I didn't think to try this out.

Reckon there's a chance the message window can be made more dynamic in a future release? Not a major issue, but it'd be a nice-to-have, methinks...

 

[dynonsupport]

The short story is that we designed it this way on purpose. It sure would be a lot easier to have the message window be dynamic, since making it act the way it does was a real pain!

The long description:

SkyView has the concept of acknowledging that you have a read a message.  Some messages don't need to be ACK'd, but many do.

We ACK messages when you close the window. If the message window is dynamic, there is no way to know you had read anything, because it would go away the instant you opened the window because that would ACK everything in the window.

So, when you open the window, it ACKs the flashing warning/caution/message, but everything that is in the window is paused. No messages go away while the window is open, and none are added. If you get a new message while the window is up, then you will still get the audio, and the message button will begin flashing again, but to see this message, you will need to close the window and re-open it. When you re-open it, all unread messages will be at the top and will be highlighted to indicate they are new.

Another reason for all of this is that a dynamic window is hard to read in a busy environment. Imagine that we deleted messages that were no longer there, and presented new ones as they appeared:

You are flying along and get "CAUTION" in your headset. As you reach down and press the MESSAGE button, ATC asks you if you have the aircraft at your 3 o-clock in sight. You are looking for the airplane, and you get another "CAUTION" alert, and look down at the message window. There's nothing in it. Then you get a "WARNING" in your headset, and some message appears in the window, and as you are going to read it, it goes away.

Then, you are flying along, and you get OIL TEMP, OIL PRESSURE in your headset. You are looking at the MESSAGE window, and suddenly the text all shifts around and you hear "CAUTION". Well, wait, which message is new, and which ones was I looking at before?

By having the message window be static while displayed, all of these issues go away. We think the system we have in SkyView does a great job of showing you the warnings in the plane while in a busy environment.

--Ian Jordan
   Dynon Avionics Chief Systems Architect

 

[KRviator]

Thanks Ian, your explanation does make a lot of sense.

I recall from the accident report from the QF32 A380 incident that the scenario you describe happened several times, some ECAM messages overriding others while the crew was trying to deal with the first ECAM alert - and as you can imagine, when your #2 engine explodes and severely damages your airplane you tend to get a lot of cautions and warnings...

You've got to love the experimental scene - where else can you speak to the actual designer of a product your using?