Human-Centered Aviation Automation: Principles and Guidelines

This document presents principles and guidelines for human-centered automation in aircraft and in the aviation system. Drawing upon operational experience with highly automated aircraft, it describes classes of problems that have occurred in these vehicles, the effects of advanced automation on the human operators of the aviation system, and ways in which these problems may be avoided in the design of future aircraft and air traffic management automation. Many incidents and a few serious accidents suggest that these problems are related to automation complexity, autonomy, coupling, and opacity, or inadequate feedback to operators. An automation philosophy that emphasizes improved communication, coordination and cooperation between the human and machine elements of this complex, distributed system is required to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation operations in the future

A General Power of Appointment Created after 1942 by the Will of the Donor Is Taxable to the Estate of the Donee without Regard to Probate of Donor\u27s Will Where the Donor and Donee Were Killed Simultaneously under Circumstances Where the Survivor Could Not Be Determined.

Abstract Forthcoming

Pilots' use of a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier operations. Volume 1: Methodology, summary and conclusions

Pilots' use of and responses to a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier line operations are described in Volume 1. TCAS 2 monitors the positions of nearby aircraft by means of transponder interrogation, and it commands a climb or descent when conflicting aircraft are projected to reach an unsafe closest point-of-approach within 20 to 25 seconds. A different level of information about the location of other air traffic was presented to each of three groups of flight crews during their execution of eight simulated air carrier flights. A fourth group of pilots flew the same segments without TCAS 2 equipment. Traffic conflicts were generated at intervals during the flights; many of the conflict aircraft were visible to the flight crews. The TCAS equipment successfully ameliorated the seriousness of all conflicts; three of four non-TCAS crews had hazardous encounters. Response times to TCAS maneuver commands did not differ as a function of the amount of information provided, nor did response accuracy. Differences in flight experience did not appear to contribute to the small performance differences observed. Pilots used the displays of conflicting traffic to maneuver to avoid unseen traffic before maneuver advisories were issued by the TCAS equipment. The results indicate: (1) that pilots utilize TCAS effectively within the response times allocated by the TCAS logic, and (2) that TCAS 2 is an effective collision avoidance device. Volume II contains the appendices referenced in Volume I, providing details of the experiment and the results, and the text of two reports written in support of the program

Pilots' use of a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier operations. Volume 2: Appendices

Pilots' use of and responses to a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier line operations are discribed in Volume 1. TCAS 2 monitors the positions of nearby aircraft by means of transponder interrogation, and it commands a climb or descent which conflicting aircraft are projected to reach an unsafe closest point-of-approach within 20 to 25 seconds. A different level of information about the location of other air traffic was presented to each of three groups of flight crews during their execution of eight simulated air carrier flights. A fourth group of pilots flew the same segments without TCAS 2 equipment. Traffic conflicts were generated at intervals during the flights; many of the conflict aircraft were visible to the flight crews. The TCAS equipment successfully ameliorated the seriousness of all conflicts; three of four non-TCAS crews had hazardous encounters. Response times to TCAS maneuver commands did not differ as a function of the amount of information provided, nor did response accuracy. Differences in flight experience did not appear to contribute to the small performance differences observed. Pilots used the displays of conflicting traffic to maneuver to avoid unseen traffic before maneuver advisories were issued by the TCAS equipment. The results indicate: (1) that pilots utilize TCAS effectively within the response times allocated by the TCAS logic, and (2) that TCAS 2 is an effective collision avoidance device. Volume 2 contains the appendices referenced in Volume 1, providing details of the experiment and the results, and the text of two reports written in support of the program

Financial Support and Challenges for Educational Technology Companies: Then, Now, and Looking Ahead

The authors review past and current funding/support for U.S. K-12 educational technology companies. They review both who provided the funding for product development and the reasons why. They look back to the 1960s and 1970s, when federal government agencies helped produce computer-based materials, then how the schools' access to technology changed the market

Preliminary Findings: Issues in Surface Movement

The final report for the grant is presented. The recent goals for this project have been: (1) To identify common surface movement challenges which affect the airlines and Air Traffic Control; (2) To map out possible solutions to these challenges; (3) To start generalizing about the information we are receiving so that major, abstract categories of challenges and potential solutions will begin to emerge. In particular, there are several areas of opportunity which are beginning to emerge from the data, dealing with the need for: (1) Tools to support information exchange regarding priorities (both within an individual airline and between the ATC tower and airlines). Such priorities include both concerns affecting departure throughput as well as the ordering of departures to accommodate other airline considerations; (2) Planning tools to help ATC and airline Ramp staff deal with information about priorities; (3) Implementation of strategies to enable greater flexibility in queueing flights for departures; (4) Tools to provide better coordination and situation awareness during taxiing (within an airline as well as between airlines and between the airlines); (5) Tools to support planning and to deal with the interactions between departures and arrivals. Thus far, the initial interviews and observations at three airlines and two ATC facilities have been completed

Human-Centered Technologies and Procedures for Future Air Traffic Management

The use of various methodologies to predict the impact of future Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts and technologies is explored. The emphasis has been on the importance of modeling coordination and cooperation among multiple agents within this system, and on understanding how the interactions among these agents will be influenced as new roles, responsibilities, procedures and technologies are introduced. To accomplish this, we have been collecting data on performance under the current air traffic management system, identifying critical problem areas and looking for examples suggestive of general approaches for solving such problems. Using the results of these field studies, we have developed a set of concrete scenarios centered around future designs, and have studied performance in these scenarios with a set of 40 controllers, dispatchers, pilots and traffic managers

Human-Centered Technologies and Procedures for Future Air Traffic Management: A Preliminary Overview of 1996 Studies and Results

In this project, we have been exploring the use of a general methodology to predict the impact of future Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts and technologies. In applying this methodology, our emphasis has been on the importance of modeling coordination and cooperation among the multiple agents within this system, and on understanding how the interactions among these agents will be influenced as new roles, responsibilities, procedures and technologies are introduced. To accomplish this, we have been collecting data on performance under the current air traffic management system, trying to identify critical problem areas and looking for exemplars suggestive of general approaches for solving such problems. Based on the results of these field studies, we have developed a set of scenarios centered around potential future system designs, and have conducted studies using these scenarios involving a total 40 controllers, dispatchers, pilots and traffic managers. The purpose of this report is to provide NASA with an early summary of the major recommendations that have resulted from our research under the AATT Program thus far. Recommendations 1-3 deal with general approaches that our findings suggest should be incorporated in future AATT Program activities, while Recommendations 4-11 identify some specific topics and technologies that merit research and development activities. Detailed technical reports containing supporting data, as well as the results of our still ongoing analyses, will be provided at a later date. The remainder of this report is organized as follows. Section 1 briefly describes the general design philosophy supported by our empirical studies. Section 2 presents the research methods we have used for identifying requirements for future system designs and for evaluating alternative design solutions. Section 3 discusses preliminary results from an initial set of investigations that we have conducted using these research methods. Section 4 then provides an overall summary. An outline of the rest of this preliminary project summary is provided on the following page

New England Intercollegiate Geological Excursion: Littleton, New Hampshire, October 10, 11 and 12, 1936

Trip A: Littleton quadrangle and northwest corner of the Moosilauke quadrangle; Trip B: Moosilauke quadrangle; Trip C: Mt. Hale, northeast corner of the Franconia quadrangl