ABSTRACT Objective: This article examines whether strategies and performance differed depending on whether naive participants were exposed to motion disturbance during practice of a tracking task. Background: Despite several decades of research, there is still debate regarding whether physical motion during flight simulation training improves later performance. Evidence suggests that presence of disturbance affects the utility of motion on transfer of training studies. Therefore, an important question is whether performance with disturbance motion (e.g., wind gusts) at test depends on whether participants practice with disturbance motion. Method: Naïve participants flew through a series of suspended rings in a motion-based simulator. Practice was with or without correlated (joystick control) and random motion (disturbance). The task was an analog of a flight task, modified to accommodate nonpilots. A quasi-transfer design included two practice blocks followed by two test blocks that incorporated both correlated and random motion. Results: No differences were detected in accuracy, but groups who practiced without disturbance made smaller joystick movements during both practice and test phases compared to those who practiced with disturbance. Conclusion: Practice without disturbance resulted in adoption of a different (possibly more efficient) joystick control strategy compared to practice with disturbance. The results suggest that during training, some control elements should be learned under relatively easy conditions, subsequently increasing in difficulty (e.g., add disturbance) at an optimal point in training.
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the non-technical skills used by aircraft maintenance crews.Background: Aircraft maintenance is a vital aspect of aviation, with failures in aircraft maintenance linked to one third of aircraft malfunctions. Research within other high-risk industries indicates the importance of non-technical skills in ensuring effective performance and reducing the risk of error.Method: A mixed-methods approach was used: Aircraft maintenance workers from 2 locations (Scotland and England, n=24) were interviewed using the critical incident technique. A short survey was then distributed (n=31) to further explore worker perceptions of non-technical skill usage across different organizational locations.Results: The interviews identified team-based non-technical skills as Situation awareness, decision making, leadership, teamwork and communication, and task management. Lone worker non-technical skills were identified as Situation awareness, decision making, and task management. The questionnaire study indicated that perception of task management was significantly more negative than for situation awareness, leadership, teamwork, and communication. Moreover, participants from Scottish units were significantly more positive about situation awareness and teamwork than their English counterparts.Conclusion: The results indicate that non-technical skills are an important aspect of aircraft maintenance workers' work performance and safety, mirroring the findings reported within other high-risk industries. Variance across organizational units suggests future training programs must be tailored to fit each team.
Objective: The objective of this article was to review a series of studies (n = 50) regarding gaze behavior and performance when piloting an aircraft.Background: Optimal gaze behavior can lead to improved flying performance under both normal and stressful conditions.Method: A computerized as well as a manual search of the literature was conducted. Articles were grouped according to prevalent themes, such as basic cockpit visual scanning, visual scanning in the automated cockpit, effects of new technology on visual scanning, nonnormal flight circumstances, differences between experts and novices, and mathematical models of visual scanning. A summary and key findings for each theme were reported.Results: The review revealed specific gaze behaviors that might be important when performing various flight tasks and when monitoring automated processes, and that can differentiate between expert and novice pilots. However, several concerns arose from the review. Among these concerns are the unexamined role of peripheral vision, the scarcity of studies on in-flight emergencies, and the lack of interventional studies.Conclusion: Specific gaze patterns appear to be related to improved flight performance. Future studies should address the methodological concerns mentioned to better clarify the relationship between gaze behavior and flying performance.
Objective: The purpose of this article is to provide a quick summary of existing measures with reliability and validity data to help researchers select a subjective measure appropriate for their application.Background: Currently, fatigue is measured through self-rating (asking individuals if they are experiencing fatigue, tiredness, or sleepiness), and calculation of fatigue from self-reported sleep and work patterns.Method: Self-rated measures of fatigue are summarized.Results: Extant fatigue scales include the Brief Fatigue Inventory, Chalder Fatigue Scale, Checklist Individual Strength, Chronic Fatigue Scale, Crew Status Survey (also known as the Samn-Perelli Fatigue Scale), Daytime Sleepiness Scale, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Fatigue, Anergy, Consciousness, Energized and Sleepiness, Fatigue Assessment Inventory, Fatigue Assessment Scale, Fatigue Impact Scale, Fatigue Severity Scale, Fatigue Symptom Inventory, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory Emotional Exhaustion Subscale, Modified Brief Fatigue Inventory, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Short Form Fatigue Questionnaire, Piper Fatigue Scale, Sleep Wake Activity Inventory, Samm-Perelli Seven-Point Fatigue Scale (SPS), Stanford Sleepiness Scale, Visual Analog Fatigue Scale, and World Health Organization Quality Of Life Assessment Energy and Fatigue subscale. In addition to the self-rating of fatigue scales, several measures are calculated and predicted from self-reported amount and quality of sleep as well as work schedule. These biomathematical models include the Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FAST), Fatigue Audit InterDyne, Fatigue Index Tool (FIT), and the Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness (SAFTE) Model. Note that the FAST uses the SAFTE model and the combination is sometimes referred to as SAFTE/FAST (Hursh, 2003). These models are also summarized in this article.
The results of three piloted simulations investigating flight-deck surface trajectory-based operations (STBO) are presented. Commercial transport pilots were given taxi clearances with time and speed components on the primary flight display and were required to taxi to the departing runway or intermediate intersections. Results show that when pilots were provided with speedonly taxi clearances, pilots either had poor required time of arrival (RTA) conformance with acceptable estimates of attentional distribution and safety, or had good RTA conformance with unacceptable attentional distribution and safety estimates. A flight-deck error-nulling algorithm/display allowed pilots to conform accurately with taxi RTA clearances while maintaining safety. Results are discussed in terms of pilot multitasking in the busy airport surface operations environment.
Objective: To evaluate a new display format for Airdrop Guidance intended to enhance precision-flight capability for high-altitude single-pass airdrop profiles.Background: Operational military environments are demanding that airdrops are increasingly precise while simultaneously protecting Air Force assets through high-altitude drops. Efforts are underway at the Air Force Research Laboratory to minimize the negative effect of human performance variability on high-altitude airdrop accuracy. Precision guidance to the calculated air release point, as presented through the new display, offers potential reduction in flight performance variability.Method: Four U.S. Air Force pilots, current in the C-17, participated in a within-subjects evaluation of the airdrop guidance display. Each pilot was scheduled to fly a total of 16 trials. The out-the-window scene (presented or blanked) effects were also assessed.Results: Results suggest improved performance over existing methods of airdrop guidance as measured by both aircraft position at green light and the comparison between actual and optimal flightpaths.Conclusion: The airdrop guidance display format, tested for precision flight, could significantly reduce flight performance error associated with high-altitude airdrop missions. Additionally, implementation of the display shows potential for increasing overall airdrop accuracy.
Objective: We conducted an exploratory investigation of whether grip force could be an indicator of stress in aviation.Background: Pilots might experience stress when anticipating failure to meet task demands and therefore, higher levels of stress can be used as a trigger for engaging automatic assistance. An unobtrusive measure of stress in aviation might be the grip force pilots exert on the control stick that could increase due to the intensified muscle tonus that characterizes psychological stress.Method: Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group and performed tracking tasks. Participants in the experimental group were told that as of the second half of the experiment their compensation for the experiment would partly depend on their performance. No such conditioning existed for the control group. Grip force was then measured using a sensor on the control stick.Results: Grip force significantly increased in the second half of the experiment in the experimental group, but decreased in the control group. Similar interaction between experimental group and experimental half was also evident with self-reported stress and galvanic skin response (GSR), yet increases within the experimental group were not significant. Grip force also moderately correlated with GSR, possibly suggesting that they responded to the same construct.Conclusion: Findings provided a preliminary indication that grip force could be used to measure stress in aviation, meriting further research exploration.
Objective: This study sought to determine if mindfulness training (MT) has a measurable impact on stress and attentional control as measured by objective physiological and psychological means.Background: Periods of persistent, intensive work demands are known to compromise recovery and attentional capacity. The effects of 4-month MT on salivary cortisol and performance on 2 computer-based cognitive tasks were tested on a military helicopter unit exposed to a prolonged period of high workload.Methods: MT participants were compared to a wait list control group on levels of saliva cortisol and performance on a go-no go test and a test of stimulus-driven attentional capture. Participants also reported mental demands on the go-no go test, time of wakeup, sleep duration, quality of sleep, outcome expectancies, physical activity level, self-perceived mindfulness, and symptoms of depression and anxiety.Results: The results from a mixed between-within analysis revealed that the MT participants compared to the control group had a larger pre to post increase in high-and low-cortisol slopes, and decrease in perceived mental demand imposed by the go-no go test.Conclusion: MT alleviates some of the physiological stress response and the subjective mental demands of challenging tasks in a military helicopter unit during a period of high workload.
Objective: To determine how flight examiners reason and which methods they use when assessing the competencies of pilots for continued accreditation purposes and type-rating training. Background: Early work on pilot performance assessment focused on measurement models, including the accuracy and reliability of the scores attributed to the human factors variables included. More recent studies investigated the nature of the evidence that flight examiners used. No previous studies were found on how flight examiners assess line pilots’ performance during flight training and examination. Method: This study employed methods typical for cognitive anthropology, combining ethnographic observations of debriefings and interviews, stimulated recall concerning debriefing, and modified think-aloud protocols of assessment of flight episodes. Twenty-three flight examiners from 5 regional airlines were observed and interviewed in 3 contexts. Results: The data revealed that flight examiners used the documentary method, where initial observations are treated as documentary evidence of underlying phenomena (e.g., situational awareness, decision making) while presupposing these phenomena for making and categorizing the observations. Flight examiners, using a variety of techniques, actively create situations for obtaining additional observations that further substantiate the presupposed underlying phenomena. Conclusion: Even when flight examiners use rating scales, their assessment method is based on categorization of facts and, therefore, shares similarities with medical diagnosis. Suggested quality improvement measures include increasing awareness of diagnostic error, developing diagnostic tools, and developing means to measure diagnostic errors.
Objective: We wished to assess whether current-generation in-cockpit looping Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) can reliably enable safe flight around severe (heavy) convective weather.Background: Numerous studies suggest that estimating the closest point of approach (CPA) to heavy weather is difficult, and that current in-cockpit NEXRAD may be intrinsically inadequate for the task.Method: To investigate theoretically, we first examined the visual information present in looping NEXRAD. This predicted inherent task difficulty. Next, to investigate empirically, we developed a mathematical model of an ideal storm, generated a looping NEXRAD-type part-task simulation, and tested 21 general aviation (GA) pilots to measure effects of weather system depth (19 vs. 40 nm), and the opening and closing of gaps at various closure rates between cells (14, 7, 0, 7, 14 kt).Results: For the values tested, weather system depth had no significant effect on clearance from heavy weather (>40 dBZ reflectivity). However, weather movement greatly degraded safety. Moreover, it did not seem to matter if movement was as slow as 7 kt, nor whether gaps were opening or closing. Any weather movement made an already difficult task more so.Conclusion: Analysis suggests the necessity of adding future-predicted weather plus a range ring. Without these two key elements, judgment of CPA will clearly remain difficult. Training is also necessary to improve performance, but is unlikely to be sufficient.
Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze influences on interrater reliability and within-group agreement within a highly experienced rater group when assessing pilots' nontechnical skills.Background: Nontechnical skills of pilots are crucial for the conduct of safe flight operations. To train and assess these skills, reliable expert ratings are required. Literature shows to some degree that interrater reliability is influenced by factors related to the targets, scenarios, rating tools, or the raters themselves.Method: Thirty-seven type-rating examiners from a European airline assessed the performance of 4 flight crews based on video recordings using LOSA and adapted NOTECHS tools. We calculated r(wg) and ICC(3) to measure within-group agreement and interrater reliability.Results: The findings indicated that within-group agreement and interrater reliability were not always acceptable. It was shown that the performance of outstanding pilots was rated with the highest within-group agreement. For cognitive aspects of performance, interrater reliability was higher than for social aspects of performance. Agreement was lower on the pass-fail level than for the distinguished performance scales.Conclusion: These results suggest pass-fail decisions should not be based exclusively on nontechnical skill ratings. We furthermore recommend that regulatory authorities more systematically address interrater reliability in airline instructor training. Airlines as well as training facilities should be encouraged to demonstrate sufficient interrater reliability when using their rating tools.
Objective: This article examines the practical impacts of integrating simulation-based training into an ab initio pilot-training course.Background: As flight simulation technology has become more advanced, and the associated costs have been reduced, there has been a corresponding increase in the use of flight simulation during ab initio phases of pilot training. Subsequently, important questions have arisen regarding the utility of simulation-based training to develop students' rudimentary piloting skills.Method: The progression of 29 students completing a course consisting of 25% simulation is compared to a baseline sample of 62 students (sourced from historical data) completing the same course prior to the integration of additional simulation-based training.Results: The integration of simulation was found to have 2 primary impacts. Although a small decrease in aircraft training hours was evident, there was also a significant increase in the overall training time once simulation-based training was incorporated.Conclusion: Simulation will always provide significant safety and risk-reduction benefits to flight training; however, when considering the practical implications of integrating simulation-based training, the current data provide a cautionary tale that positive outcomes for training efficiency and cost-effectiveness are not always guaranteed. More targeted inquiry is still needed to assist flight schools to properly operationalize the findings from the research literature to effectively integrate simulation into their flight-training curriculums.
Objective: Determine how combinations of NextGen-automation concepts for separation assurance and spacing affect air traffic controller (ATCo) situation awareness, workload, and performance.Background: In previous research, situation awareness was not measured with valid and reliable instruments. Previous work also evaluated separation assurance and spacing concepts individually, and did not examine weather.Method: Retired ATCos worked en route and transitional sectors. Four operating concepts for separation assurance and spacing were tested based on whether automation or ATCo was responsible for each function. Standard methods for assessing workload and situation awareness were used; performance measures included safety and efficiency.Results: Workload was lowest when both functions were automated; however, situation awareness depended on operating concept and sector. In the en route sector, the highest levels of situation awareness were found for ATCo-managed separation assurance and automation-managed spacing. In the transitional sector, the highest situation awareness occurred when ATCos performed both functions. The numbers of loss of separation were highest for ATCo-managed separation assurance; sector complexity depended on weather, but only for automation-managed separation assurance. Spacing efficiency was highest for ATCo-managed separation assurance, but more communications were required.Conclusion: In air traffic management, separation assurance and spacing functions interact with each other in determining ATCo workload, situation awareness, and performance, depending on sector characteristics and weather. Therefore, evaluations of NextGen-automation solutions must include multiple concepts of operation, and involve different sectors and environmental conditions.
Safety-related training policies restrict pilots from encountering challenging weather during flight training. This potentially inhibits the development of critical decision-making skills. To identify gaps in weather-related flight training, high-fidelity weather-simulation was developed to re-create historical weather events. Sixteen visual-only pilots and 16 instrument-rated pilots flew a simulated cross-country flight under visual flight rules in marginally visual weather that encountered instrument conditions. Procedural performance and experience-related demographic factors were analyzed to identify key flight skills and experience that contributed to safe weather-related decisions. Previous experience with actual instrument weather was found to be the only statistically significant demographic predictor of safe performance. Pilots who performed more safely were more likely to use in-cockpit weather information during the flight to detect and avoid instrument weather. Implications of this study and opportunities for future research are discussed.
We investigated the performance of 12 airline pilots in recovering from an asymmetrical stall in a flight simulator featuring an extended aerodynamic model of a transport-category aircraft, and a centrifuge-based motion platform capable of generating enhanced buffet motion and g-cueing. All pilots had difficulties in applying the correct recovery template, as their initial response was to counter the wing drop rather than to unload the aircraft. Reproduction of actual g-loads led to significantly longer recoveries, more secondary stick-shaker events, lower maximum load factors, larger altitude loss, and higher speeds. It also resulted in higher workload. We conclude that the extended simulator envelope is useful for demonstrating stall characteristics of transport aircraft.
Latent growth mixture modeling is a statistical approach that models longitudinal data, grouping individuals who share similar longitudinal data patterns into latent classes. We evaluated the application of this method in a sample of ab initio pilot applicants (N = 297), using longitudinal data collected from a military flight-screening program (where the applicants flew seven required flights), resulting in a final pass-fail outcome. Results showed the existence of a two-class solution (Cluster 1 presented an initially higher performance and contained 75% of the Pass candidates) and the psychomotor coordination and general adaptability showed a significant effect.
The objectives of this work were to identify human performance risks and benefits of adaptive systems through a systematic analysis and heuristic evaluation of adaptive system component types and characteristics. As flight deck automated systems have more access to aircraft data, sensor data, stored databases, communicated information, and real time flight crew inputs, as well as more ability to process that information in sophisticated ways to identify situational priorities and context, it is becoming more realistic for those automated systems to adapt their behavior based on context. Automated systems that can make such changes on their own are called adaptive systems. The concern here is with adaptive systems that are perceived by the pilot to behave non-deterministically even though they are technically deterministic. Based on a framework to describe the types and characteristics of adaptive system components, a risk/benefit analysis was preformed to identify potential issues. Based on this analysis, eight representative adaptive system storyboards were developed as the basis of a heuristic evaluation with pilots to validate the analysis and explore more detailed issues and potential risk mitigations. The value of this work is expected to be in suggesting adaptive system issues, risks, and guidelines that need to be considered in making design decisions and approving new adaptive systems on the flight deck.
Pilot performance following unexpected critical events has been either ineffective or inappropriate in some recent aircraft accidents. The deleterious effects of startle have been identified as causal or contributory in these events. The startle reflex, fight or flight reaction, and stress response are discussed. Threat has the effect of potentiating startle effects and has significant deleterious effects on cognition. This could contribute to poor performance following an unexpected critical event in aviation. Training strategies for improved performance, which would expose pilots to unexpected critical events more often, and develop greater self-efficacy, are discussed.
This study tested the feasibility and value of mindfulness training (MT) in a Norwegian military combat aircraft squadron (n = 21). No objective measures of performance were included in this study. Subjective measures of mindfulness, mental skills, and performance-related anxiety were administered before and after the intervention, including a semistructured interview at the study's conclusion after the intervention. Qualitative feedback and measures of mindfulness were collected via e-mail at 12 and 24 months during follow-up. During posttraining, there was a reduction in somatic anxiety related to performance and improvements in self-perceived skills associated with mindfulness, attention regulation, and arousal regulation. Mindfulness scores remained higher throughout the follow-up. Time-consuming plenary sessions and the amount of recommended, out-of-class training were found to be potential drawbacks of MT. Overall the findings indicate that MT might be a viable complement to existing mental training for high-performance populations.
