Forecasting the Air Race Classic: Lessons in Interdisciplinary Aviation Weather Support and Decision-Making

The Air Race Classic (ARC) is an all-female Visual Flight Rules air race held each June. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach (ERAU-DB) has had primarily student race teams participate and frequently place strongly in the ARC since 1996. The ERAU-DB Meteorology Program has provided successful weather support to ERAU-DB race team(s) for the past decade, including as the terminus host institution in 2016. In 2014, the weather support was formalized as a three-credit interdisciplinary summer course, incorporating a mix of aeronautical science (pilot), dispatch, and meteorology students. Using concepts of service and experiential learning, the ARC course has successfully integrated students from varying educational backgrounds into cohesive weather support teams that serve the ERAU-DB air racers. As such, students from primarily aviation backgrounds have had to learn about aviation weather support tools and techniques they were not previously aware of, while students from primarily meteorological backgrounds had to integrate aviation concepts such as fuel burn and service ceiling into their forecasts. The ARC weather support experience has helped to expose students to real-world situations and decision-making, given them an increased sense of purpose and service to the ERAU-DB community, and improved their ability to combine aviation and meteorological thinking for the purpose of real-time aviation weather forecasting

A Comparison of the Learning Styles of Aviation and Non-Aviation College Students

In contrast to established educational fields such as mathematics, the discipline of aviation education is relatively young. Despite strong signs that our discipline is maturing (Brady 1991), it is not clear as to the extent to which a larger body of instructional theory can be applied specifically to aviation instruction (Telfer 1993, p. 210) or the broader field of aviation education. A starting point in unraveling this complex question is to better understand the characteristics of aviation students. In recent years a limited number of researchers have begun to address this and related questions (Moore and Telfer 1990; Quilty 1996; Green 1998; and Kanske 2001). In the current study, we seek to relate the learning characteristics of the student in aviation education to the well-established concepts of andragogy and pedagogy. Knowles (1977a) defined pedagogy as the art and science of teaching children, and gives an historical account (Knowles 1977b) of the origins of this mode of educational practice in 7th century European monasteries for the purpose of rapidly training a cadre of young workers to copy teachings from decaying scrolls. This is notable because through subsequent centuries this teaching model has been applied to ever broader and more complex learning situations. Current literature suggests that the traditional lecture format for college classes is not always effective with today\u27s students when used as the sole means for transmitting information (e.g., Campbell 1997). Traditional lecture formats follow the pedagogical teaching model in that they are teacher-centered, and not necessarily influenced by the needs or interests of the students

Analysis of Causes of Icing Conditions Which Contributed to the Crash of Continental Flight 3407

On February 12, 2009, at 10:20 p.m. EST, Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo crashed 5 miles short of the runway at Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the crash, but preliminary reports show the airplane was experiencing icing conditions before the crash. Preliminary reports indicate that the pilot did not respond properly to the icing conditions, which contributed to the crash. However, the presence of the icing conditions which were significant enough to cause aircraft problems needs further investigation to determine if pilots can be forewarned about these type of aircraft icing problems

Transitioning Traditional Aviation Weather Instruction to a Space Launch Weather Support Course: Operational Considerations

Weather support to space launch operations, while similar to that for traditional aviation, presents significant additional challenges. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) currently offers three courses in traditional aviation meteorology, two needed by aeronautical science students seeking private pilot through airline transport pilot (ATP) FAA certifications, and one to provide meteorology majors with operational experience supporting an actual air race. However, with the advent of a new degree program in Commercial Space Operations (CSO), the need to modify and extend traditional aviation weather instruction to include space launch weather requirements has become increasingly important. While the traditional aviation meteorology coursework is beneficial, it does not cover the full-spectrum of weather impacts on space launch and suborbital space flight operations that both CSO and meteorology students will need. To address this challenge, ERAU (with guidance from the 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base) is working to create a new course focused on weather support to these operations, utilizing the new suborbital space flight simulator and lab housed in the Department of Applied Aviation Sciences. This presentation explores the operational considerations of transitioning traditional terrestrial aviation weather instruction to a suborbital space flight weather support course. These considerations include: more stringent spacecraft and system weather sensitivities, triggered lightning, vertical wind-shear profile analysis, attention to atmospheric conditions above the troposphere, and space weather impacts

Effects of Graphical Weather Information versus Textual Weather Information on Situation Awareness in Meteorology

Prior to a flight, pilots gather meteorological information in order to assess the weather conditions pertaining to their flight and to make decisions based on it. This information can come in various formats, such as text and graphical weather information. Research has shown that people have varying learning preferences and that most people prefer visual learning to verbal learning (i.e., graphical over text). It is hypothesized that this difference in learning preference can affect the way pilots interpret and apply the information they obtain prior to their flight. The researcher hypothesizes that graphical weather information has a greater, more positive impact on a pilot’s situation awareness in meteorology than textual weather information. For this study, 20 participants were recruited and presented with two sets of weather information and were then asked to fly two different cross-country flights using the weather information provided. While flying, participants were asked SPAM questions in order to assess their situation awareness in meteorology. The results showed graphical weather information to be better than textual weather information for the participants’ situation awareness in meteorology. Additional correlations showed evidence that people with both a high preference for visual learning and verbal learning can benefit from graphical weather information over textual weather information. Finally, the data collected indicated that the lack of meteorology training could be a factor in the misinterpretation of weather information

Broadening Traditional Aviation Meteorology Education to Support Spaceflight Operations

The purpose of this paper is to examine the expansion of traditional aviation meteorology education necessary to support the growing commercial space-operations industry. While spaceflight meteorological considerations do overlap with those of traditional aviation operations, there are notable differences schools must address for appropriate education and training of both meteorologists and operators. These include knowledge of increased weather sensitivities, space-weather impacts, triggered lightning, triboelectrification, and high-resolution vertical wind-profile analyses. An added challenge in the educational process is the more limited amount of publicly available weather and space-weather products necessary to support spaceflight education. Furthermore, in comparison with traditional aviation meteorology, real-world experiential learning opportunities for students to support actual space-launch and on-orbit operations are limited. However, flight simulations employing historical meteorological and space-weather data may help provide the basic educational tools necessary to overcome these limitations and better prepare students pursuing careers in spaceflight, either as operators or as meteorologists

A Comparison of the Learning Styles of Aviation and Non-Aviation College Students

In contrast to established educational fields such as mathematics, the discipline of aviation education is relatively young. Despite strong signs that our discipline is maturing (Brady 1991), it is not clear as to the extent to which a larger body of instructional theory can be applied specifically to aviation instruction (Telfer 1993, p. 210) or the broader field of aviation education. A starting point in unraveling this complex question is to better understand the characteristics of aviation students. In recent years a limited number of researchers have begun to address this and related questions (Moore and Telfer 1990; Quilty 1996; Green 1998; and Kanske 2001). In the current study, we seek to relate the learning characteristics of the student in aviation education to the well-established concepts of andragogy and pedagogy. Knowles (1977a) defined pedagogy as the art and science of teaching children, and gives an historical account (Knowles 1977b) of the origins of this mode of educational practice in 7th century European monasteries for the purpose of rapidly training a cadre of young workers to copy teachings from decaying scrolls. This is notable because through subsequent centuries this teaching model has been applied to ever broader and more complex learning situations. Current literature suggests that the traditional lecture format for college classes is not always effective with today\u27s students when used as the sole means for transmitting information (e.g., Campbell 1997). Traditional lecture formats follow the pedagogical teaching model in that they are teacher-centered, and not necessarily influenced by the needs or interests of the students

A Comparison of the Learning Styles of Aviation and Non-Aviation College Students

In contrast to established educational fields such as mathematics, the discipline of aviation education is relatively young. Despite strong signs that our discipline is maturing (Brady 1991), it is not clear as to the extent to which a larger body of instructional theory can be applied specifically to aviation instruction (Telfer 1993, p. 210) or the broader field of aviation education. A starting point in unraveling this complex question is to better understand the characteristics of aviation students. In recent years a limited number of researchers have begun to address this and related questions (Moore and Telfer 1990; Quilty 1996; Green 1998; and Kanske 2001). In the current study, we seek to relate the learning characteristics of the student in aviation education to the well-established concepts of andragogy and pedagogy. Knowles (1977a) defined pedagogy as the art and science of teaching children, and gives an historical account (Knowles 1977b) of the origins of this mode of educational practice in 7th century European monasteries for the purpose of rapidly training a cadre of young workers to copy teachings from decaying scrolls. This is notable because through subsequent centuries this teaching model has been applied to ever broader and more complex learning situations. Current literature suggests that the traditional lecture format for college classes is not always effective with today\u27s students when used as the sole means for transmitting information (e.g., Campbell 1997). Traditional lecture formats follow the pedagogical teaching model in that they are teacher-centered, and not necessarily influenced by the needs or interests of the students

Analysis of Causes of Icing Conditions Which Contributed to the Crash of Continental Flight 3407

On February 12, 2009, at 10:20 p.m. EST, Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo crashed 5 miles short of the runway at Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the crash, but preliminary reports show the airplane was experiencing icing conditions before the crash. Preliminary reports indicate that the pilot did not respond properly to the icing conditions, which contributed to the crash. However, the presence of the icing conditions which were significant enough to cause aircraft problems needs further investigation to determine if pilots can be forewarned about these type of aircraft icing problems