Visual Features Involving Motion Seen from Airport Control Towers

Visual motion cues are used by tower controllers to support both visual and anticipated separation. Some of these cues are tabulated as part of the overall set of visual features used in towers to separate aircraft. An initial analyses of one motion cue, landing deceleration, is provided as a basis for evaluating how controllers detect and use it for spacing aircraft on or near the surface. Understanding cues like it will help determine if they can be safely used in a remote/virtual tower in which their presentation may be visually degraded

Static and Motion-Based Visual Features Used by Airport Tower Controllers: Some Implications for the Design of Remote or Virtual Towers

Visual motion and other visual cues are used by tower controllers to provide important support for their control tasks at and near airports. These cues are particularly important for anticipated separation. Some of them, which we call visual features, have been identified from structured interviews and discussions with 24 active air traffic controllers or supervisors. The visual information that these features provide has been analyzed with respect to possible ways it could be presented at a remote tower that does not allow a direct view of the airport. Two types of remote towers are possible. One could be based on a plan-view, map-like computer-generated display of the airport and its immediate surroundings. An alternative would present a composite perspective view of the airport and its surroundings, possibly provided by an array of radially mounted cameras positioned at the airport in lieu of a tower. An initial more detailed analyses of one of the specific landing cues identified by the controllers, landing deceleration, is provided as a basis for evaluating how controllers might detect and use it. Understanding other such cues will help identify the information that may be degraded or lost in a remote or virtual tower not located at the airport. Some initial suggestions how some of the lost visual information may be presented in displays are mentioned. Many of the cues considered involve visual motion, though some important static cues are also discussed

Videopanorama Frame Rate Requirements Derived from Visual Discrimination of Deceleration During Simulated Aircraft Landing

In order to determine the required visual frame rate (FR) for minimizing prediction errors with out-the-window video displays at remote/virtual airport towers, thirteen active air traffic controllers viewed high dynamic fidelity simulations of landing aircraft and decided whether aircraft would stop as if to be able to make a turnoff or whether a runway excursion would be expected. The viewing conditions and simulation dynamics replicated visual rates and environments of transport aircraft landing at small commercial airports. The required frame rate was estimated using Bayes inference on prediction errors by linear FRextrapolation of event probabilities conditional on predictions (stop, no-stop). Furthermore estimates were obtained from exponential model fits to the parametric and non-parametric perceptual discriminabilities d' and A (average area under ROC-curves) as dependent on FR. Decision errors are biased towards preference of overshoot and appear due to illusionary increase in speed at low frames rates. Both Bayes and A - extrapolations yield a framerate requirement of 35 40 Hz for minimizing decision errors. Definitive recommendations require further experiments with FR > 30 Hz

NASA aviation safety reporting system

A sample of reports relating to operations during winter weather is presented. Several reports involving problems of judgment and decisionmaking have been selected from the numerous reports representative of this area. Problems related to aeronautical charts are discussed in a number of reports. An analytic study of reports involving potential conflicts in the immediate vicinity of uncontrolled airports was performed; the results are discussed in this report. It was found that in three-fourths of 127 such conflicts, neither pilot, or only one of the pilots, was communicating position and intentions on the appropriate frequency. The importance of providing aural transfer of information, as a backup to the visual see and avoid mode of information transfer is discussed. It was also found that a large fraction of pilots involved in potential conflicts on final approach had executed straight-in approaches, rather than the recommended traffic pattern entries, prior to the conflicts. A selection of alert bulletins and responses to them by various segments of the aviation community is presented

The motel in the heart of every man: the transitional spaces of Don DeLillo

This work illustrates the spatial nature of Don DeLillo’s writing. Through a reading of his work a network of societal spaces repeatedly occur and are utilised as locations within which to raise questions of the relationship between identity and mass society. The spaces that predominate produce the topography of his work. A network begins to develop, a series of nodal points joined by a connective tissue of pathways through which the discussion of society and identity pass. By focusing on both the nodal points themselves and the pathways that connect them the roles of motion, control and a potential counter-narrative appear. The individual spaces that DeLillo chooses as locations in his novels are relevant. Their placing in society, their means of construction and the materials of which they are constituted all illustrate the form of society which created them. In turn these spaces are observed to shape the characters that pass through them, in the process further expanding the network of societal associations. The particular spatial forms that DeLillo focuses on reflect a transitional impulse, a desire for motion and speed rooted in anti-historicism. The suburb, the motel, and the highway are all born of the period which followed the Second World War which had a profound sociological, psychological and technological impact on society. The need to face the future, reject the past and repress the traumatic experiences of war led an experience of space and society which is transitional. The spaces are selected for their association with anxiety, trauma, nostalgia and consumption. The duality of these spaces epitomises the complexities of modern social identity. Due to the reflexive nature of transitionality cultural shifts impact upon its form, altering the way in which it appears and functions. The alleyway influences the development of the highway, the motel influences the development of the suburb, and the railway station affects the airport. The airport is an example of the manner in which technological advance change the appearance of these spaces but the themes and issues that are explored in them reflect consistent interests. Similarly, moments of great social import such as the Kennedy assassination and the attacks of 9/11 leave traces on these transitional spaces

NASA aviation safety reporting system

Knowledge of limitations of the Air Traffic Control system in conflict avoidance capabilities is discussed. Assumptions and expectations held by by airmen regarding the capabilities of the system are presented. Limitations related to communication are described and problems associated with visual approaches, airspace configurations, and airport layouts are discussed. A number of pilot and controller reports illustrative of three typical problem types: occurrences involving pilots who have limited experience; reports describing inflight calls for assistance; and flights in which pilots have declined to use available radar services are presented. Examples of Alert Bulletins and the FAA responses to them are included

2009 Bird Strike North America Conference Program

Bird Strike Committee Canada and Bird Strike Committee USA are very pleased to welcome you to the 2009 Bird Strike North America Conference in Victoria, British Columbia. This is the eleventh combined meeting of Bird Strike Committee USA and Bird Strike Committee Canada. This year there are over 41 papers in 9 technical sessions, as well as exhibitor displays and posters. There will also be lots of time to reconnect with old friends and colleagues and to meet new ones. We hope you enjoy the conference sessions, the special events and your stay in the beautiful city of Victoria

Remote Airport Traffic Control Center (2008 - 2012) Final Presentation and Workshop - Extended Abstracts

The present report contains the extended and revised version of the abstracts collection of the presentations given at the final international workshop of the DLR-project RAiCe (Remote Airport traffic Control Center, 2008 - 2012), held on November 30 2012 in Braunschweig. The RaiCe presentations are complemented by two external contributions,from the Swedish ANSP LFV and company Frequentis, representing the industrial perspective on Remote Tower research and development. The RaiCe workshop was a satellite event of the Second SESAR Innovation Days (SID 2012, Nov. 27-29) which was held in Braunschweig, following the first one in Toulouse 2011. One of the RaiCe validation results papers was presented at SID2012 and is also included in the present report for com-pleteness, besides inclusion in the SID2012 proceedings. In addition to the collection of extended abstracts and an introduction, besides some general refer-ences a list of the publications of the DLR Remote Tower Group (time frame 2002 – 2012) is provid-ed. A list of the workshop participants is added as part of the Appendix

Applying the lessons of the attack on the World Trade Center, 11th September 2001, to the design and use of interactive evacuation simulations

The collapse of buildings, such as terminal 2E at Paris' Charles de Gaule Airport, and of fires, such as the Rhode Island, Station Night Club tragedy, has focused public attention on the safety of large public buildings. Initiatives in the United States and in Europe have led to the development of interactive simulators that model evacuation from these buildings. The tools avoid some of the ethical and legal problems from simulating evacuations; many people were injured during the 1993 evacuation of the World Trade Center (WTC) complex. They also use many concepts that originate within the CHI communities. For instance, some simulators use simple task models to represent the occupants' goal structures as they search for an available exit. However, the recent release of the report from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (the '9/11 commission') has posed serious questions about the design and use of this particular class of interactive systems. This paper argues that simulation research needs to draw on insights from the CHI communities in order to meet some the challenges identified by the 9/11 commission