Qualitative Assessment of General Aviation Pilots’ Perceptions of Preflight Weather Briefings

Prior to departing on a flight, General Aviation pilots complete a pre-flight planning process to ensure the safety of their flight. One aspect of the pre-flight 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

Combined Report: Aviation Weather Knowledge Assessment & General Aviation (GA) Pilots’ Interpretation of Weather Products

Prior research has indicated that general aviation (GA) pilots may lack adequate knowledge of aviation weather concepts and skill at interpreting aviation weather displays. Therefore, the purpose of the current project was to develop and validate a comprehensive set of aviation weather knowledge and interpretation multiple-choice questions, and in turn, to use the questions to assess pilot understanding of aviation weather concepts and displays. An interdisciplinary research team that included two meteorologists, one Gold Seal Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI), a human factors psychologist, and several human factors graduate students performed this research

Evaluating the quality of interaction between medical students and nurses in a large teaching hospital

BACKGROUND: Effective health care depends on multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork, yet little is known about how well medical students and nurses interact in the hospital environment, where physicians-in-training acquire their first experiences as members of the health care team. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of interaction between third-year medical students and nurses during clinical rotations. METHODS: We surveyed 268 Indiana University medical students and 175 nurses who worked at Indiana University Hospital, the School's chief clinical training site. The students had just completed their third year of training. The survey instrument consisted of 7 items that measured "relational coordination" among members of the health care team, and 9 items that measured psychological distress. RESULTS: Sixty-eight medical students (25.4%) and 99 nurses (56.6%) completed the survey. The relational coordination score (ranked 1 to 5, low to high), which provides an overall measure of interaction quality, showed that medical students interacted with residents the best (4.16) and with nurses the worst (2.98; p < 0.01). Conversely, nurses interacted with other nurses the best (4.36) and with medical students the worst (2.68; p < 0.01). Regarding measures of psychological distress (ranked 0 to 4, low to high), the interpersonal sensitivity score of medical students (1.56) was significantly greater than that of nurses (1.03; p < 0.01), whereas the hostility score of nurses (0.59) was significantly greater than that of medical students (0.39; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The quality of interaction between medical students and nurses during third-year clinical rotations is poor, which suggests that medical students are not receiving the sorts of educational experiences that promote optimal physician-nurse collaboration. Medical students and nurses experience different levels of psychological distress, which may adversely impact the quality of their interaction

Team Dynamics Theory: Nomological network among cohesion, team mental models, coordination, and collective efficacy

I put forth a theoretical framework, namely Team Dynamics Theory (TDT), to address the need for a parsimonious yet integrated, explanatory and systemic view of team dynamics. In TDT, I integrate team processes and outputs and explain their relationships within a systemic view of team dynamics. Specifically, I propose a generative nomological network linking cohesion, team mental models, coordination, collective efficacy, and team outcomes. From this nomological conceptualization, I illustrate how myriad alternative models can be derived to account for variance in different working teams, each comprised of unique members, and embedded in singular contexts. I outline TDT’s applied implications for team development, the enhancement of team functioning, and the profiling of team resilience. I conclude by discussing how TDT’s ontological and nomological propositions can be tested through various theoretical inquiries, methodological approaches, and intervention-based studies

SPECTROSCOPIC EVIDENCE FOR BINARY OXYGEN CLUSTERS IN THE GAS PHASE.

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Indiana UniversityThe 0-0 band of the $^{1}\Delta_{6}-^{3}\Sigma^{-}_{3}$ system of molecular oxygen has been examined at low temperatures using a White cell with an effective path of 30 meters. The integrated absorption coefficient at $87^{\circ}K$ is nearly twice as large as at room temperature. This intensity anomaly may be interpreted in terms of a ``clustering'' process, which includes both bound -pairs and collision pairs, both of which are expected to increase in importance at low temperatures. From the temperature dependence of the integrated absorption coefficient, a clustering energy $\Delta E=-360$ cal./mole is found. At present it is not possible to separate the effects of bound-pairs and collision pairs, since both of these contribute to the maximum of the pair-distribution function which governs the spectroscopic intensity. A direct confirmation of bound oxygen dimers will depend on observation of fine structure corresponding to the bound-states of the intermolecular potential

COLLISION INDUCED SPECTRA OF OXYGEN

$^{1}$ R.P. Blickensderfer, R. Leonard and G.E. Ewing, Applied Optics 1968, in press.Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Indiana UniversityA 3.8 meter cell which operates routinely at variable path lengths up to 230 meters and which may be cooled to $77^{\circ}K$ will be $described.^{1}$ The collision induced spectra are examined in several regions at a pressure of about 1 atmosphere and temperatures from $77-300^{\circ}K$. The $^{1}\Delta_{g}\leftarrow ^{3}\Sigma^{-}_{g}$ system $(1.2 \mu)$ consists of sharp features due to rotational fine structure of monomer $O_{2}$ and a broad underlying continuum attributed to the collision induced spectra of oxygen dimers. Simultaneous transitions are observed at $0.6 \mu$ in which a collision complex of two oxygens simultaneously undergo a $^{1}\Delta_{g}\leftarrow ^{3}\Sigma^{-}_{g}$ transition. The absorptions of collision induced transitions increase dramatically at temperatures near $\epsilon/k \sim 100^{\circ}K$ for oxygen. This occurs when the kinetic energy approaches the intermolecular potential energy and oxygen begins to cluster in the gas phase

Weather Hazards in General Aviation: Human Factors Research to Understand and Mitigate the Problem

Weather-related accidents contribute to general aviation fatal accidents each year. These accidents continue to occur even with advancements in weather information technology available in cockpit display technology and mobile applications. The purpose of this session is to highlight a body of on-going human factors research addressing examining interpretability of aviation weather observations, displays, and forecasts; discussion of results from the weather information latency study; use of augmented reality to enhance aviation education, training, and weather information presentation; increasing the number and detail of GA pilot reports (PIREP’s); and GA Pilot In-flight Visibility Assessments. This paper provides an abstract for each of the topic areas

Assessing the Effectiveness of an Education and Training Module for General Aviation Pilots on the Use of NEXRAD-based Products in the Cockpit

Numerous studies over the years have documented the need to improve meteorological education and training for General Aviation (GA) pilots. With the advent of readily available aviation weather hazard products for real-time pilot use on the flight deck, there is now a lack of education and training on the proper interpretation and usage of these products. Data-linked NEXRAD is a good example of a currently available real-time product that is very popular in the GA community, but lacks a coherent understanding of its proper usage in pre-flight planning and in-flight operation. Proper usage of NEXRAD in the cockpit should require a robust amount of education and training, yet very little material is currently available. An examination of Internet-based pilot discussion groups, meetings with industry officials at national meetings such as AMS and NBAA, and review of pertinent FAA guidance reveals a lack of credible radar knowledge in the community, and a shortage of instructional materials on proper usage and interpretation of NEXRAD, especially in-flight. Vendors who provide NEXRAD-based products to the cockpit do provide guidance on the operation of the technology, but little in the way of basic radar principles and proper usage of the radar information. In this study, a NEXRAD-based education and training module has been developed for GA pilots using structured protocols based on Instructional Systems Design (ISD) techniques. The employment of ISD methodology enabled development of a detailed needs analysis, and learner and setting profiles based on the targeted group. These steps allowed for the construction of robust learning objectives and proper linkage of these objectives to module materials and assessment tools, the latter consisting of a combination of traditional knowledge- and scenario-based testing. The module contains material on weather radar and NEXRAD basics, NEXRAD product specifics and limitations, thunderstorm basics, and pilot decision-making principles. The introduction of thunderstorm basics in the module employed extensive examples from actual convective weather situations to convey relevant points, and provided the backdrop for the scenario-based testing. The effectiveness of the module was tested by delivering the module and assessing its effectiveness within a group of GA pilots, and comparing their knowledge scores between a pre- and post-module test with a second group of GA pilots who watched weather and aviation videos instead of receiving the training. Preliminary results from the testing show that the trained group improved significantly from the pre-test to the post-test on both radar knowledge and scenario based knowledge. Additionally, self-efficacy and reactions to the training were significantly higher for the trained group compared to the non-trained group. These results are very encouraging, as they suggest that a focused training program aimed at a specific audience can achieve significant results in educating and training pilots on proper interpretation and use of data-linked weather products. The results also show that using scenario-based questions for testing basic aviation meteorological knowledge is feasible. We recommend the FAA adapt this approach to update and revise the required aviation meteorological sections of basic knowledge tests and guidance such as Advisory Circulars on aviation meteorology and thunderstorms