This study examined the effects of preflight weather briefing strategies [i.e., Flight Service Station (FSS) briefing, self-briefing, both, or neither] on general aviation pilots’ understanding of forecast conditions during two scenario-based simulations: fog and icing. Effects were found for briefing type on pilots’ interview scores and mental model accuracy. FSS and self-briefing independently improved comprehension, with FSS alone sometimes outperforming both the self-brief and combined conditions. Behavioral data indicated that pilots accessing weather products during self-briefing did not match the expert-identified key products. Mental model measures revealed partial sensitivity. Interview scores in the icing scenario showed significant declines when self-briefing preceded FSS briefings, suggesting cognitive overload. Findings highlight the need for refinement of preflight tools to align pilot behaviors with expert protocols.

General aviation (GA) pilots are increasingly conducting weather self-briefings using online tools rather than consulting with experts, raising questions about the efficacy of these methods. This study used behavioral observation to analyze how 39 certificated GA pilots conducted preflight weather briefings using a simulated flight planning tool across two scenarios involving forecast icing and fog conditions. Participant behavior was compared against benchmark strategies developed by aviation meteorology experts. Researchers recorded product access, sequence, and duration. In both scenarios, pilots frequently overlooked key imagery products and used a linear “next” button to navigate products, often spending less than a second on critical content. These results suggest gaps in pilots’ weather literacy and/or interface usability challenges. This study provides a foundation for the guiding question: Do flight planning apps help rather than hinder pilots during weather planning? Findings support the development of more intuitive, user-centered briefing tools.

Weather has contributed to hundreds of General Aviation accidents. Research suggests inadequate preflight planning and lack of aviation weather knowledge are contributing factors. This study describes the development of three mental model measures (departure, enroute, and arrival) designed to assess pilots’ understanding of current and forecasted conditions. Each measure requires pilots (n=23) to evaluate weather conditions (flight category) at different regions within the flight area. A two-way mixed ANOVA examined differences in pilots’ understanding of flight category across three preflight weather briefing conditions (flight services call, self-briefing, and a combined condition) and three phases of flight (POF). No significant interaction occurred between briefing condition and POF on pilots’ ability to identify the correct flight category. However, significant differences in pilots’ understanding of weather conditions occurred between phases. Pilots were most effective at assessing flight category/weather on the enroute mental model measure and least effective at assessing weather forecasted surrounding arrival.

As Electronic Medical Records (EMR) become increasingly prevalent, the application of human factors principles is essential to facilitate efficiency and usability of these systems and, in turn, to reduce adverse patient outcomes due to user errors relating to the EMR. This paper describes five “best practices” found in the literature which aim to prevent error in the use of Electronic Medical Records. These practices are: Watermarking, Information Control and Management, Hybrid Systems, Cross-Checking Methodology, and Interface Modification. The paper describes each practice and examines the research underlying each approach. Although some practices may be easier to apply than others, they all merit further research and have potential for error prevention on a large scale.

Subjective performance measurements are a useful tool for researchers and instructors to evaluate tasks that are difficult to quantify with objective data pulled from a simulator or the physiological data of pilots. Subjective performance measurements are non-intrusive measures typically conducted by human raters. Some recommendations for utilizing subjective measures include reducing the workload of the human raters, concealing the aim of the experiment from participants, utilizing multiple raters to evaluate each participant, providing raters with proper training, developing error-resistant rater forms and, including both subjective and objective measures when possible.

The majority of general aviation (GA) accidents involving adverse weather result in fatalities. Considering the high weather-related fatality rate among GA flight operations, it is imperative to ensure that GA pilots of all experience levels can incorporate available weather information into their flight planning. In the past decade, weather product development has incorporated increasing levels of automation, which has led to the generation of high-resolution, model-based aviation displays such as graphical turbulence guidance and current icing potential, which rival the resolution of radar and satellite imagery. This is in stark contrast to the traditional polygonal-based displays of aviation weather hazards (G-AIRMETs and SIGMETs). It is important to investigate the effects of these changes on the end user. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the interpretability of weather products for two areas of interest: display type (traditional polygons vs. model-based imagery) and type of weather phenomena (ceiling/visibility, turbulence, and icing), across a range of pilot experience levels. Two hundred and four participants completed a series of weather product interpretation questions. The results indicated significant effects of product display type, as well as significant effects of weather phenomena and pilot experience on product interpretation. Further investigation is needed to assess possible extraneous variables.

Prior to departing on a flight, General Aviation pilots complete a preflight planning process to ensure the safety of their flight. One aspect of the preflight planning process is obtaining a briefing on the weather conditions that the pilot might encounter along their flight route. Traditionally pilots have utilized a phone-in service, run by Flight Services, to aid in their assessment of weather conditions; however, research indicates that pilots are increasingly reliant on conducting self- briefing using online resources. The purpose of this study is to determine pilot perceptions of obtaining a phone-in brief in comparison to self-briefing.

Current literature indicates that a lack of weather knowledge and poor product interpretability may be contributing to the high probability of fatalities in general aviation weather-related accidents. Eight hundred and thirty-seven general aviation pilots completed an online aviation weather product interpretation test that asked pilots to apply information gleaned from weather hazard products for fight planning. Participants were divided into five categories of certificate/ratings. A total of 118 questions were divided into five separate tests and randomly distributed to the participants. A series of analyses were conducted to assess the impact of weather product and pilot certification on interpretation scores. Overall, certified private pilots scored significantly lower than certificated commercial pilots, flight instructors, and airline transport pilots. Private with instrument rating pilots scored significantly lower than certificated flight instructors and air transport pilots. Further analysis revealed that pilots scored lowest on ceiling visibility analysis, satellite, station plots, and surface prognostic products. Highest scores were associated with winds aloft, graphical turbulence, and pilot reports. The results have implications for both weather display design and pilot training.

General aviation (GA) pilots are increasingly relying on available weather technology to conduct preflight weather self-briefings, rather than call-in briefings to Flight Services. However, research has shown that GA pilots’ have difficulty in interpreting weather products, such as radar, and that this problem persists even after additional training. The domain of change management examines how to properly plan and implement transitions in technology. The current paper examines this transition from call-in to self-briefing using principles of change management, specifically from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology.

As General Aviation (GA) safety continues to remain a focus of the aviation community, GA pilot weather education and training continues to be an active area of interest within the research community. This study introduces a taxonomy for organizing GA pilot weather education and training materials that was originally conceived as part of the FAA’s Weather Technology In the Cockpit research program. The taxonomy is built upon three main knowledge categories, or tiers:1) Weather Phenomena (which includes hazards); 2) Weather Hazard Products; and 3) Weather Hazard Product Sources and their Application. The concept behind the categorization is to link knowledge of basic meteorological concepts/theory, hazards, and hazard products to the application of that knowledge to make correct aeronautical decisions about the weather in all phases of flight, including planning. The application tier of the taxonomy is particularly important in today’s operating environment, where many commercial weather products and hand-portable applications are available to the GA community. These products and applications are not intended to teach pilots about weather; it is assumed that the pilot has an adequate weather background and understands the uses and limitations of these products. Our research and that of others on GA pilot education and training suggests that this may not be the case, thus the need for a methodology that “connects the dots” from theory to application. The “version 1.0” of the taxonomy contains these three tiers with two to three subcategories contained within each. Each subcategory itself can contain a number of individual topic areas. The taxonomy was developed by a subject matter expert team consisting of two aviation meteorologists, a certificated flight instructor with a meteorological background (who recently completed a Ph.D. in Aviation), a human factors psychologist, and two human factors doctoral students. The taxonomy’s potential applications in the education and training environment are also presented.

Weather-related accidents have one of the highest accident and fatality rates in General Aviation. Weather training is highly variable depending on the source of instruction, and it is essential to emphasize the importance of weather training and identify strategies to engage GA pilots in improving their weather knowledge. Gamification, the use of game elements in a non-gaming context, exists as a tool that could aid in the improvement of aviation weather training. This paper provides background on gamification theory including the motivations, user types, and specific gamification elements used in training. It also emphasizes the relevance of the theories in the realm of aviation weather training. Furthermore, this paper recommends aspects of gamification most relevant to GA pilot training. With further testing, the implementation of gamification in aviation weather instruction may yield improved outcomes in training.

Visual flight rules (VFR) operations into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), is one of the deadliest causes of weather-related accidents in the General Aviation (GA) community. Current weather training for GA pilots is inadequate. This paper describes the design and development of three weather training modules and provides research-based recommendations for the development of future training modules for aviation weather. Recommendations include incorporating simulation-based training, utilizing available materials, prioritizing accessibility, accounting for changing technology, maintaining high cognitive fidelity, and using a multidisciplinary team approach.

When General Aviation (GA) pilots encounter unexpected weather hazards in-flight, the results are typically deadly. It is unsurprising that the National Transportation Safety Board repeatedly lists weather related factors in GA flight operations as an unsolved aviation safety challenge. Solving this problem requires multidisciplinary perspectives. Fortunately, in the past several years innovative laboratory research and industry products have become available. This panel discussion brings together Human Factors and Ergonomics researchers and practitioners to discuss and describe the current work and future directions to avoid weather related accidents in GA.

BACKGROUND: General Aviation (GA) pilots who encounter hazardous weather inflight have a high probability of incurring fatal accidents. To mitigate this problem, previous research investigated pilot decision making and the effects of new technology. Limited investigations have examined usability and interpretability of observation and forecast weather products available to pilots. Therefore, this study examined the interpretability of weather observation and forecast reports that GA pilots use for preflight weather planning and the impact of pilot certification level on the interpretability of these displays.METHOD: There were 204 GA pilots (Mean age = 22.50 yr; Median flight hours = 131.0) who completed a 90-item multiple choice Aviation Weather Product Test. The questions portrayed static weather displays available on the NOAA/National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center website. The questions were designed to have high cognitive fidelity in comparison with preflight weather planning tasks.RESULTS: The results revealed overall low mean interpretability scores (Mean percent correct= 59.29%, SD = 16.01%). The scores for observation products and product attributes were lower for student pilots than experienced pilots. Forecast product scores for student and private pilots did not differ, however, student pilot scores were significantly lower than instrument rated private and commercial pilots.DISCUSSION: The low interpretability scores indicate that GA pilots misinterpret weather information provided by most weather observation and forecast products. Possible contributing factors to the low product interpretation scores include poor usability and a lack of training. Future research should measure the usability of weather displays designed for pilots.Blickensderfer BL, Guinn TA, Lanicci JM, Ortiz Y, King JM, Thomas RL, DeFilippis N. Interpretability of aviation weather information displays for general aviation. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(4):318-325.

One aspect of healthcare efficiency is operating room (OR) turnover time. OR turnover time is an area of high interest to hospital administration, however, limited Human Factors research exists on turnover time. The current paper describes OR turnover time and describes variables involved (e.g., tasks, procedures, personnel, and others). Next, research topics related to OR turnover time are described. This includes measuring turnover time, parallel processes, workflow layout, teamwork, and several other areas. Research gaps in these areas are discussed.

The purpose of this chapter is to describe and discuss the role of automation in general aviation (GA) weather-related tools and technology and the implications it may have on pilots' flight planning. We will accomplish this by first delineating the weather tools and technology available to GA pilots. Next, we will describe how automation plays a role in each; and finally, we will discuss possible human performance benefits and possible negative impacts of the automation. While the primary focus of this chapter is on GA flight and GA pilots, the chapter also includes some discussion of the implications of automation for meteorologists as well.

Previous research suggests that a lack of weather knowledge and poor usability of weather displays may be contributing to aviation weather-related accidents. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceived usability and performance of pilots while using different parts of the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) website. On average, pilots rated Radar the highest, followed by Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs), and then Satellite on the System Usability Scale. Performance measures and the post-study interview revealed further insight into what aspects of the AWC are giving pilots difficulties.

General Aviation flight operations have been negatively affected by the slow decreasing weather related accident rate for the last 20 years. Upon further investigation, research suggests, that poor preflight planning and a lack of aviation weather experience and knowledge may be contributing factors to the stagnant weather related accident rate. Our team developed a Preflight Weather Decision Support Tool (PWDST) to help novice pilots access, interpret, and apply weather information. We used a user-centered design process which involved an initial task analysis, low-fidelity prototyping, low-fidelity usability testing, user interviews and expert review. This study assessed and compared the perceived usability, difficulty, and the system assistance satisfaction of the PWDST. Participants (n=9) completed a usability study and a series of surveys during, as well as, after the completion of the preflight planning scenario. A series of Mann-Whitney U Tests were conducted to compare the difference between Private Pilot and Certified Flight Instructors (CFI) perceived usability, difficulty, and system assistance satisfaction ratings. Results indicated, there were no significant differences between group ratings. Overall, both groups reported above average usability, system assistance and low difficulty rating for the PWDST. Future research and possible implications are discussed.