Public Privacy Concerns of Operating Entities Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems

This study examined one-hundred and sixty five U.S. participants’ privacy levels of concerns towards eight different entities operating unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The participants were presented with an individual scenario that was interchanged with the eight operating entities. With each interchanged scenario the participants were asked to assess overall privacy concern based on the operating entity utilizing the UAS. The operating entities used in the scenario were Amazon, the Government, the Military, Law Enforcement, Consulting, Construction, Hobbyist, and Real Estate. The results demonstrate that there is a difference between operating entity and genders; however both genders trend toward the same level of concern based on the operating entity. The results and conclusions from this study can be used by Federal and State governments, as well as public and private entities for determination of regulations, policies, and uses of a UAS. Implications of these results are further discussed within the poster

A Trust in Air Traffic Controllers (T-ATC) Scale

Trust is a concept that cannot be easily measured. Further, trust is domain-specific. Trust is a foundational aspect of safe flight operations in the National Airspace System, and while there has been much attention to trust in teams and trust in automation, there appears to be a gap in knowledge of a pilot’s trust in air traffic controllers. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Trust in Air Traffic Controllers (T-ATC) scale, a summative scale to measure a pilot’s trust in air traffic controllers. This study followed a three-step methodology. In steps one and two, words were generated using an online Delphi process. In step three, the proposed instrument was set in a scenario-based test using over 200 pilots as participants. The data were subjected to Principal Components Analysis (PCA) which indicated a single component explaining 69.06% of the total variance. A Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90 showed the scale to have high internal consistency, and a Guttman split-half test result of 0.91 indicated the scale had high reliability. Safety within the National Airspace System requires a high degree of cooperation between system actors facilitated through trust in system components. In a system reliant upon trust, there is little knowledge of trust between pilots and controllers and therefore, no foundation for understanding and addressing trust dynamics. The T-ATC scale can now be used by aviation researchers to close the gap in knowledge regarding a pilot’s trust in controllers

Cultural Differences in Trust of Space Tourism Travel

Science fiction or not, commercial space travel is on the horizon. One of the most unknown concepts to public perception is the idea of traveling by spacecraft. The next frontier for mankind is space travel; however, there are many challenges that need to be met before space tourism travel becomes a reality. There are numerous companies on the cusp of making space travel a reasonable and affordable mode of transportation. Since the idea of traveling through space is so new, there is not a lot of data available about public perception. The purpose of this research, however, is to gather public input as to their personal levels of trust in space tourism travel. This data could be invaluable to an emerging company as strategic marketing techniques can be utilized with this information to increase their customer acquisition and spread the concept. This research was able to acquire input from both American and Indian participants through the use of Amazon’s ® Mechanical Turk ® program. Using an experimental design, the research analyzed the levels of trust between individuals from different cultural backgrounds as well as gender differences. After analyzing the collected data, it was determined that there was a significant interaction in the trust levels between country and gender, F(1, 392) = 6.379, p = 0.012, np2 = .016. The American female population was less trusting of space travel than the Indian female population. Practical implications and limitations to the study are also discussed

Controlled Rest in Position (CRIP): Consumer Perceptions in the United States

Controlled rest in position (CRIP) has been suggested as a viable countermeasure to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the ongoing efforts to combat in-flight pilot fatigue. It is already in use in other parts of the world; however, it is not currently permitted in the United States. While expert opinion suggested it poses little threat to flight safety, with valuable returns in terms of improved crew alertness and performance, there is some doubt about the level of consumer buy-in. This study completed a preliminary investigation into overall consumer willingness to fly, in the use of CRIP procedures in the United States. Two studies were completed to examine consumer perceptions toward the use of CRIP. It was found in both studies that male and female participants were less willing to fly when CRIP was used. Additionally, female participants were less willing than their male counterparts in both the control and experimental condition. In the second study, affect measures were collected and found to completely mediate the relationship between the use of CRIP and consumers’ willingness to fly. Findings may provide both regulators and airlines data that could aid in their decision-making processes as it relates to implementing such practices in the United States

Aviation Consumers’ Trust in Pilots: A Cognitive or Emotional Function

Previous research has shown that stigmas play an important role in trust. While previous research has focused on trust in individuals with stigmas in various settings, no research that we know of has specifically looked at trust in pilots as a function of their stigmas, and what might mediate those effects. In two studies, we asked Indian participants to rate their trust in pilots as a function of gender, age, weight and ethnicity. The results of the first study indicated that Indians trusted female pilots less than male pilots, older pilots less than younger pilots, obese pilots less than slim pilots, and Arab pilots less than Indian pilots. The second study replicated these findings and revealed that Affect plays a dominant mediating role between each condition and trust

Validation of an Operationalized Model of Iso-Ahola’s Theory of Tourism Motivation: A Case in Point-to-Point Suborbital Space Travel

The purpose of the study was to validate Snepenger, King, Marshall, and Uysal’s (2006) model of Iso-Ahola’s (1982) theory of tourism motivation for use in point-to-point suborbital space tourism research. No previous research was discovered, which assessed point-to-point suborbital space flight within the theoretical foundation of the theory of tourism motivation. Snepenger et al.’s (2006) model was assessed as published, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) failed to produce data fitting the four dimensions. The researchers modified the item descriptions based on research. Using a second sample, the modified model was assessed. EFA produced four factors with adequate convergent and discriminant validity. Confirmatory factor analysis produced good model fit with adequate construct validity. The study validated the operationalized model of the theory of tourism motivation in United States participants providing a valid and reliable scale for use in future suborbital space travel research

Assessing Trust in Air Traffic Controllers: A Pilot Study

The safety of the National Airspace System is reliant upon the partnership between pilots and air traffic controllers facilitated through verbal communications. When the partnership based on trust is strong, the pilot is able to better manage the complexities associated with flying in congested airspace and reduce the possibility of certain errors. Studying barriers to communication is important in understanding how trust is built and maintained. Bias has been shown to be a barrier to trust in communications and aviation. Previous studies have researched trust in air traffic automation and trust based on confidence in the controller’s speech. However, a search of the literature revealed no discussions of trust based on the accent of the controller. Being able to detect accent bias is an important first step in being able to address issues and reduce the risk associated with communications problems. The purpose of the current project is to assess a pilot’s trust in controllers based on the controller’s accent as a first step in creating a model to predict trust in controllers. Participants will be presented audio recordings of various air traffic controllers and then rate their perceived trust in the controller. Results of the study will be presented. Keywords: trust, accent bias, air traffic contro

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Internet-Based Survey Methods in Aviation-Related Research

Within the last decade, numerous online populations, such as SurveyMonkey ® and Amazon’s ® Mechanical Turk ®(MTurk), have been established allowing researchers to gather data involving diverse populations. These resources offer an alternative to traditional laboratory settings hosted at universities, where many studies utilize students as the available and accessible population. While these online portals do provide new opportunities, they also contain unique advantages and disadvantages. This paper synthesizes the advantages and disadvantages of using online populations to conduct research in the aviation field. Some of the advantages are: easier access to new populations, larger sample sizes, more balanced ratio of genders, lower cost, more timely data collection, reliable data, and anonymity of participants. Some of the disadvantages are: unrepresentative samples, lower response rates, financial motivation issues, limited access to certain portals, limited length of study, non-behavioral data, and lack of follow-up data. In addition, the authors share their personal experiences of using these portals and summarize previous literature researching online populations

There is a Bias in Aviation Against Research That is Perceived to be “Easy”

The purpose of conducting research is to make contributions to the body of knowledge. In managing research studies, researchers are often forced to make decisions on a series of tradeoffs due to scarce resources. They may have to select participants from certain accessible populations, limit the time required to conduct the study, or use a minimal number of researchers due to funding constraints. The purpose of this current study was to examine for a possible bias on the perceived value of scientific research based on the location in which the data was collected, the amount of time required to complete the study, and the number of researchers involved in the study. Over a series of four studies, 1796 total participants provided ratings on their perceived scientific value of the accomplished research. The findings indicated that those studies which were conducted in a laboratory, took more time, and used more researchers had more perceived scientific value than the exact same study completed in a classroom, in a shorter amount of time, and with fewer researchers. Additionally, ease/difficulty was shown to be a significant mediator, further providing evidence that the perceived ease or difficulty of the study was influencing the participants’ ratings