Defining Aviation “Skills” to Ensure Effective, Safe, and Efficient Evaluations: A Qualitative Study

The present qualitative case study strives to define the term skill within aviation, drawing from the cognitive psychology, organizational psychology, and training literature as well as input from subject matter experts in the aviation industry. A review of the published literature revealed no consensus for defining what constitutes a skill. While some definitions follow a task-based approach, others emphasize more cognitively based representations. Moreover, a formal, commonly accepted definition of the term skill within the aviation domain is lacking. The researchers employed a qualitative case study methodology to extract true descriptions from the subject matter experts to bound and expand from the current literature while rooting the findings within the theoretical model of situation awareness. Findings from this study indicate the term skill encompasses multiple high-order thinking processes. While these processes can be defined differently depending on the field in which one applies the term skill, they are still rooted in three common themes: goal-oriented, efficiency, and high proficiency

The Effect of Experiential Education on Pilots\u27 VFR into IMC Decision-Making

In aviation, safety is always a primary consideration, and this is especially true during a pilot’s flight training to instill that safety mentality. However, this means that pilots are restricted by safety policies from encountering difficult weather situations during their training, which could, potentially, improve their weather decision-making skills for avoiding future hazardous weather encounters. Thirty-six general aviation pilots of varying instrument flight experience (IF) were allocated, using stratified random sampling based on their IF, to one of three groups, a control group and two educational treatment intervention groups. The educational treatment interventions were designed to improve the participant’s ability in recognizing deteriorating weather (reducing visibility) conditions, to prevent flying from visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) by the use of experiential education. Intervention one was web-based only and intervention two was web and personal computer (PC) simulator based. Each pilot flew a simulated flight along a fjord in Alaska under visual flight rules in deteriorating visual weather that became instrument conditions. Type of intervention and experience-related demographic factors were analyzed to determine what factors contributed to safe weather-related decisions. Type of educational treatment intervention was found to be the only statistically significant demographic predictor of safe performance. Pilots who received the web-based only intervention were better able to assess deteriorating visibility and avoid instrument weather. Implications of this study and opportunities for future research are discussed

The indirect effect of experience between personality hardiness and situational awareness

Studies on the relation between personality and Situation Awareness (SA) have been inconclusive. The present study investigates the relation between personality hardiness and SA during a simulated police scenario using a mediation approach. One hundred and sixty-seven police officers completed the test in a scenario with the arrest of a suspected perpetrator. The results showed a direct relationship neither between hardiness and SA, nor a total effect of the model tested. However, an indirect relationship between hardiness and SA, through the amount of annual operational training, beyond mandatory training, occurred. This indirect effect of training occurred for the total hardiness score, and for the control dimension on the facet level of the Dispositional Resilience Scale (15 items). The findings were interpreted as police officers high on hardiness being more motivated and engaged in voluntary operational training. By being more involved in training, they were gaining more experience in perceiving and interpreting critical stimuli in operational scenarios. Thus, the findings of an indirect effect was seen as a result of the relationship between experience and SA

The Effect of Situation Presence Assessment Method (SPAM) on Air Traffic Control Students' Workload and Performance in High-Fidelity Simulations

abstract: This study examined the impact of Situation Presence Assessment Method (SPAM) administration on air traffic control (ATC) students’ task workload and performance in high-fidelity ATC simulations. ATC students performed high-fidelity en-route simulations in two conditions: baseline conditions (without SPAM questions) and SPAM conditions. The data collected show that while workload in the two conditions were not significantly different, there was a trend of higher mental workload in SPAM conditions than in baseline conditions. Performance immediately following SPAM questions was revealed to be poorer than that preceding the SPAM questions and that over the equivalent time periods in the baseline conditions. The results suggest that a "Ready" signal before a SPAM question may not be enough to eliminate the impact of SPAM administration on ATC students’ workload and performance in high-fidelity en-route simulations.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Technology 201

The Extent of Distraction of Cell Phone Conversations for Passengers in Simulated Flight

Currently, passengers are forbidden from making cell phone calls during flights in the United States due to cellular electronic interference. However, some related research has demonstrated that the use of cell phones has little interference with avionics. Furthermore, any potential electronic interference can be eliminated by using new technology. Although talking on the cell phone does not cause electronic interference, the distraction of a passenger caused by a cell phone may negatively impact safety. The cell phone calls have been found to affect people’s attention and performance. In-flight announcements are popular methods to inform commercial airliner passengers of their situation and aircraft’s status. If a passenger’s attention is distracted from the announcements by the phone call, it would inhibit the passenger from being aware of important information. Nevertheless, little research is about the distraction of the in-flight announcements caused by cell phone calls. The purpose of this study was to compare the extent of safety compliance (checking seatbelts, raising tray tables) and retention of announcements among three groups: cell phone conversation, face-to-face conversation (i.e., talking with the passenger next to them), and control. Findings revealed that the cell phone group and the face-to-face group memorized less information from safety announcement and complied with safety behaviors to a lesser degree than the control group. The face-to-face group was not safer than the cell phone group on any measure. Therefore, it is recommended that lifting the ban on in-flight cell phone calls should be considered

Train driving simulator studies: can novice drivers deliver the goods?

Early research suggests that, in a simulated train-driving environment, unskilled, novice drivers may exhibit comparable behaviour and performance to experienced, professional train drivers after receiving only minimal, task-specific training. However, this conclusion is based on exiguous performance indicators, such as speed limit exceedances, SPAD violations etc., and considers only limited data. This paper presents further, detailed analysis of driving performance data obtained from 20 drivers (13 novices and 7 experienced train drivers), who took part in a previous simulator-based research study, utilising more sensitive and perspicuous measures, namely acceleration noise and control actuation. Results indicate that, although both cohorts exhibited similar performance using the original metrics, and would thus support the same conclusions, the manner in which this performance was effected is fundamentally different between groups. Trained novice drivers (mainly comprising students and staff at the University of Nottingham) adopted far more erratic speed control profiles, characterised by longer control actions and frequent switching between power and brake actuation. In contrast, experienced drivers delivered smoother acceleration/braking profiles with more subtle (and shorter) control actions and less variance in speed. We conclude that although utilising trained non-drivers may offer an appealing solution in the absence of professional train drivers during simulator-based research, and their input remains of value, researchers should remain mindful when interpreting results and drawing conclusions from a contingent comprising non-drivers. The work also demonstrates the value of dependent variables such as acceleration noise, and quantitative measures of control actuation, which may offer an insightful portfolio of measures in train driving research studies

Individual differences in working memory affect situation awareness

2011 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Situation awareness (SA) is a construct that brings together theories of attention, memory, and expertise in an empirical effort to showcase what awareness is and how it is acquired by operators. Endsley (1995a) defined SA in a way that includes many theoretical associations between awareness and specific memory and attention mechanisms. Work characterizing these relationships has been sparse, however, particularly with regard to the influence of working memory (WM) on SA in novices. An experiment was devised which principally investigated novice SA as a theorized function of WM across two distinct tasks; one in which operator attention and perception (Level 1 SA) was assessed, and one in which an operator's ability to respond to events in the future (Level 3 SA) was implicitly assessed. Factors analysis was used and resulting outcomes from three WM tasks loaded well onto one overall WM factor. Findings from 99 participants indicate that WM does have a correlative and predictive relationship with Level 3, but not Level 1 SA. Results reported here contribute to ongoing theory and experimental work in applied psychology with regard to SA and individual differences, showing WM influences awareness in novice performance even in the case where SA measures are not memory-reliant

Control of position sensor input to Ecdis on high speed craft

Project thesis submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Position and Navigation Technology at The University of NottinghamBy 2018 all larger ships are to be equipped with Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). The paradigm shift from paper charts to electronic charts has been a technological leap for mariners, and the Integrated Navigation Systems (INS) are getting more and more complex. This leads to new challenges for the navigators of today. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS are the primary position sensor input for ECDIS, and it has since its early beginning in the middle of the 1990s been very reliable. National and worldwide statistics show that there has been a slight increase in navigational accidents since the introduction of ECDIS, but the reasons for this is not clear. In the literature review it is laid down that position sensors have its potential fault, and GNSS and its augmentation systems is described to better understand its advantageous and limitations. Control of ECDIS with position control methods are explored, and divided into two methods of control: Visual- and Conventional methods. Through field work, simulator tests and interviews the findings are clear. The navigators of today rely too much upon their primary position sensor which normally is a GNSS such as GPS. A questionnaire reveals that the navigators have insufficient deeper system knowledge of the navigation aids in use. This can lead to a potentially serious accident with loss of lives and large environmental damage. To achieve safe navigation it is important to continuously conduct control of primary position sensor input to ECDIS with a secondary position sensor by visual- and/or conventional control methods. The advantages and limitations with the different methods of control are discussed. Position sensors such as GNSS can fail, and navigators of today and tomorrow need to monitor the position sensor input to ECDIS with other means than GNSS

Comparison of Eye Movement Data to Direct Measures of Situation Awareness for Development of a Novel Measurement Technique in Dynamic, Uncontrolled Test Environments

Situation awareness (SA) is a measure of an individual\u27s knowledge and understanding of the current and expected future states of a situation. While there are numerous options for SA measurement, none are currently suitable in dynamic, uncontrolled environments. Direct measures of SA are the most common, but require a large amount of researcher control as well as the ability to stop operators during a task in order to ask questions about their levels of SA. The current research explored the relationship between direct measures of SA and eye tracking measures as a first step in the development of an unobtrusive SA measure to be used in less controllable, dynamic environments. Two studies compared participant eye movements and SA in driving and air traffic control scenarios. Both studies showed that the more individuals fixated on an important, task-relevant event, the higher their SA for that event. The studies also provide evidence that the way operators allocate attention (i.e., distributed widely or narrowly) affects their SA as well as their task performance. In addition, study 2 results showed positive correlations between SA and task performance. The results indicate that eye tracking may be a viable option for measuring SA in environments not conducive to current direct SA measurement techniques. Future research should continue to explore which eye movement variables best predict participant SA, as well as to investigate the relationship between attention allocation and SA