The Value of a Collegiate FAR Part 141 Jeopardy-Crew Resource Management (CRM)-Simulation Event

This article explores the viability of using a FAR Part 141 collegiate crew resource management (CRM) flight simulator scenario event as a jeopardy event (a graded, syllabus item) in an upper-level professional pilot curriculum course. Ultimately, the objective is to suggest this approach as a value-added curriculum consideration for other collegiate professional pilot programs. The selection of four CRM criteria to be examined was made by the course professor. Using the four principles, the students assembled the grading rubric for their event. The simulator scenario placed students in airspace, geography and weather dissimilar to that in which they were training in real aircraft. To add additional realism, PilotEdge™.net, was contracted with to provide live Air Traffic Control (ATC) service. Seventeen “ATC events” representing real-world disruptions were negotiated with PilotEdge™.net, a minimum of one which was to be randomly introduced into each jeopardy event. The student reaction to this jeopardy event was surprisingly positive. Student crews left the event challenged, but importantly not overwhelmed, and more valuably with positive attitudes about what they had just experienced

Opening Autonomous Airspace–a Prologue

The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and in particular small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), has significant operational implications for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system of the future. Integrating unmanned aircraft safely presents long-standing challenges, especially during the lengthy transition period when unmanned vehicles will be mixed with piloted vehicles. Integration of dissimilar systems is not an easy, straight-forward task and in this case is complicated by the difficulty to truly know what is present in the airspace. Additionally, there are significant technology, security and liability issues that will need resolution to ensure property and life are protected and in loss, indemnified. The future of air traffic will be a fully networked environment, where the absence of participation on the network could connote a potential intruder and threat. This article explores a potential airspace structure, and conceptual air traffic management philosophy of self-separation that is inclusive of all participants. Additionally, the article acknowledges the significant cyber security, technological, societal trust, employment, policy, and liability implications of transition to a fully autonomous air transportation system. Each subject is described at a macro, operations analysis level verses a more detailed systems engineering level. The objective and potential value of such a treatment is to encourage industry dialog about possibilities and more importantly a focus toward workable future air traffic solutions

Aviation Organization Strategy Development in National Airspace Modernization

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how small sub-directorates within larger organizations develop strategy to accomplish expansive legacy infrastructure re-engineering. There is significant, historical academic inquiry on Technological Transitions (TT)s with respect to infrastructure modernization; the conversion of the National Airspace System from ground-based to space-based navigation is an example of a TT. There are also studies on how to re-engineer legacy software systems to continue supporting organizational needs. This study is intended to explore a case of re-engineering the expansive legacy ground-based navigation system in the United States by efficiently reducing the size of the network and expanding then verifying signal coverage on over 4.5 million square miles. It is not a pure TT, nor a pure software re-engineering, but rather a large-scale re-engineering of a pre-existing hardware and software infrastructure. It constitutes a nationwide effort to re-design and expand the legacy ground-based navigation system developed over 70 years. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advised the public in 2011 that it intended to re-engineer and reduce the Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (VOR) network from 896 stations down to 593 stations - to be defined as the Minimum Operational Network (MON). This reduction was based on the premise that two-thirds of the legacy VORs would be retained but their coverage expanded to cover twice the airspace within the US than the previous network. The FAA Flight Program Operations (FPO) is a small sub-directorate within the larger organization that is now responsible to validate signal coverage on several million square miles of additional airspace. Understanding how the FPO develops strategy and leverages technology to support this endeavor can provide a repeatable template for future, expansive, legacy infrastructure re-engineering efforts. This study discovered that the FPO developed and iteratively evolved strategy to accomplish the VOR MON using tribal knowledge, subject matter expertise and accepted business re-engineering practices. The template can be applied to other legacy infrastructure re-engineering efforts to support forthcoming TTs

Backwards Chaining – Accelerating Solo Flight Training

Flight simulation has made progressively significant inroads into pilot training at all levels of a pilot’s career – typically starting with training for the Instrument rating in light aircraft and concluding with Type Certification in transport category jetliners. This research was designed to explore if significant training inroads could also be offered to ab-initio pilots, those with no prior flight experience. A control group of first-year, collegiate pilot trainees, all without prior flight experience, enrolled in a traditional FAR 141 PVT (Private Pilot license) curricula on track to their first solo flight, were compared with an experimental group of up to15 pilot trainees, also without prior flight experience, who were exposed to flight in a backwards chaining simulation starting from 4’ AGL (Above Ground Level). Graduated, exponential increments of both altitude and distance from landing were successively added to the simulation experienced by the backward chain experimental group of pilots all the way through a standard FAA General Aviation traffic pattern to return the student pilot to the start of take-off. Once the students had completed the backward chaining simulation, they were placed in an identical aircraft (Cessna-172R/G1000) for an actual flight with an appropriately rated Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). All experimental group pilots were able to successfully act as sole manipulator of the aircraft controls (Pilot-in-Command) for three complete circuits of the traffic pattern on their first flight lesson

Mini Review: Potential Applications of Non-host Resistance for Crop Improvement

Plant breeding for disease resistance is crucial to sustain global crop production. For decades, plant breeders and researchers have extensively used host plant resistance genes (R-genes) to develop disease resistant cultivars. However, the general instability of R-genes in crop cultivars when challenged with diverse pathogen populations emphasizes the need for more stable means of resistance. Alternatively, nonhost resistance is recognized as the most durable, broad-spectrum form of resistance against the majority of potential pathogens in plants and has gained great attention as an alternative target for managing resistance. While transgenic approaches have been utilized to transfer nonhost resistance to host species, conventional breeding applications have been more elusive. Nevertheless, avenues for discovery and deployment of genetic loci for nonhost resistance via hybridization are increasingly abundant, particularly when transferring genes among closely related species. In this mini review, we discuss current and developing applications of nonhost resistance for crop improvement with a focus on the overlap between host and nonhost mechanisms and the potential impacts of new technology

Autonomous Airliners Anytime Soon?

This research seeks to extend the body of knowledge on factors influential in the decision to fly on an autonomous airliner as a passenger. Only a handful of studies have probed this direct question in the last 16 years, but the data is showing a growing public acceptance of this type of travel. Pivotal in this consideration is the basic element of trust – trust in automated airliners and trust in the airline and Air Traffic Control systems which are responsible for autonomous airliners. Human trust has many forms and manifestations, but in the end, it is a dichotomous or binary choice; either a human does or does not trust. Longitudinally comparing the previous autonomous airliner research samples was technically impure because the respondent pools were dissimilar in age demographics, vocational backgrounds, and nationality. Nevertheless, a current, United States-focused sampling was taken to compare with the 16-year historical data available and explore trends in this emerging discussion

Testing Backward Chaining Ab-initio Flight Instruction

This conceptual/exploratory research updates that previously published in the Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education and Research (JAAER) Vol. 30, Issue 1 (Spring 2021) which asked if backward chaining, ab-initio pilot training decrease time to first solo? The specific focus of the research was the viability of landings instruction as the first ab-initio lesson. The research compared a total of eight respondents in a backward-chained flight instruction methodology against four respondents in a forward-chained flight instruction methodology. All 12 respondents were recruited without previous flight instruction or Pilot-in-Command logged flight time. Ground instruction preceded simulator instruction which was followed by instruction in actual aircraft. A hybrid approach of Grounded Theory/Phenomenology was used to evaluate the respondent’s performance, acceptance of, and attitudes towards the delivered flight instruction. All respondents completed multiple circuits in the traffic pattern on their first flight. Updated research results include: a) exploration and incorporation of refined methodological enhancements, b) qualitative and quantitative evaluation of respondents, c) recognition of previously un-experienced student pilot behavioral outcomes highlighting and reiterating potential risks embedded in conceptual/exploratory research, and d) observational evidence that if the goal is to teach ab-initio pilots to land an aircraft first, backwards chaining methodology may be preferred over the traditional, long-standing forward chained flight instruction methods

Can Backward-Chained, Ab-Initio Pilot Training Decrease Time to First Solo?

Flight simulation has made progressively significant inroads into pilot training at all levels of a pilot’s career – typically starting with training for the Instrument rating in light aircraft and concluding with Type Certification in transport category jetliners. This research was designed to explore if significant training inroads could also be offered to ab-initio pilots, those with no prior flight experience. An experimental group of four pilot trainees, without prior flight experience, were exposed to flight in a backwards-chained simulation starting from 4’ AGL (Above Ground Level). Graduated, exponential increments of both altitude and distance from landing were successively added to the simulation experienced by the pilots all the way through a standard FAA General Aviation traffic pattern to return the student pilot to the start of take-off. Once the pilot trainees had completed the backward-chained simulation, they flew the traffic pattern conventionally, in a forward chain prior to being placed in an identical aircraft (Cessna-172/G1000) for an actual flight with an appropriately-rated Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). After receiving a demonstration of a complete circuit in the traffic pattern by the CFI, all four pilot trainees were able to complete three, unassisted circuits in the traffic pattern. Backwards-chained initial flight instruction appears to have significant operational potential in accelerating (reducing) the time required for first solo of new pilots. It also warrants further investigation by other pilot training research institutions

Pilot Visual Detection of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Equipped with Strobe Lighting

When operating under Visual Flight Rules, pilots primarily rely on visual scanning to avoid other aircraft and airborne collision threats. Records from the Federal Aviation Administration indicate that near encounters with unmanned aircraft are on the rise, reaching 1,761 reported unmanned aircraft system (UAS) sightings or near-misses in 2016. This study sought to assess the effectiveness of pilot visual detection of UAS platforms that were equipped with strobe lighting. A sample of 10 pilots flew a general aviation aircraft on a scripted series of five intercepts with a small UAS (sUAS) that was equipped with strobe lighting. Participants were asked to indicate when they visually detected the unmanned aircraft. Geolocation information for both the aircraft and sUAS platform was compared to assess visibility distance. Findings were used to evaluate the efficacy of daytime strobe lighting as a method to enhance pilot sUAS detection, visibility, and collision avoidance. Participants detected the unmanned aircraft during 7.7% of the intercepts. Due to a lack of data points, the authors were unable to conclusively determine if strobe lighting improved UAS visual detection. The authors recommend further research to explore the effectiveness of using sUAS-mounted strobe lights for nighttime visual detection