Business Commons^™

Electronic Flight Bag Policies At Collegiate Aviation Programs, Tyler A. Babb

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) are now standard in the commercial aviation industry. Air carriers must implement and maintain EFB training and policies according to FAA regulations. Pilots are also using EFBs at collegiate aviation programs.This study investigated EFB practices at collegiate aviation programs, and how well these practices complied with FAA recommendations. Specifically, the research investigated whether or not the presence of an official EFB policy at a flight program had any relation to the quality of the EFB program. Results indicated that most programs somewhat conform to FAA policies, and in some cases, programs without policies had more effective …

A New Way To Improve Logistics Efficiency And Aircraft-Onground Recovery, Katia Regina Goncalves, Erica Maria Dias Ferreira Cruz Grudzinski, Fabio Pinto, Carlos Alberto De Queiroz, Gilson Macedo Dos Santos

Graduate Student Works

The objective of this project was to bring more efficiency to logistics, improving time of Aircraft-on-Ground (AOG) recovery and developing possible saving for airlines operations. There proposed goal was to develop a system that would allow airlines to easily visualize an available space at the aircraft cargo bay on a desired flight and book its company materials (COMAT) on it, still respecting all appropriate regulation and the final availability of space.

This project was inspired by an existing system called MyIDTravel that allows jointed airline’s personnel to buy available tickets with low fares. The objective was to develop something similar …

An Evaluation Of Tax Structure And Practices Of On Board Sales In Brazil, Gregory Altom, Fabio Campos, Haroldo De Lima, Rita Medina, Andrezza Moraes

Graduate Student Works

This study compared the tax costs between on-board sales and airport cafeterias of a mix of twenty-five products composed of beverages, fresh food and snacks in the amount that would be boarded on domestic flights between São Paulo, SP, Rio de Janeiro, RJ and Brasília, DF. The study showed that airlines are paying three times more in taxes than the airport cafeterias. The study suggested that states stop charging taxes for the transfer of unsold products on board, reducing 67% of the fees paid by airlines that practice buy on board (BoB) and guarantee a revenue gain between USD $ …

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Criteria To Determine The Levels Of Compensation, Promotion And Other Benefits For The Crew Members And Its Effects On Airlines, Customers, And Crew, Danilo Andrade, Thiago Branco, Diogo De Carvalho, Alexandre Gandini, Priscila Hernandez

Graduate Student Works

This study analyzes the effectiveness of management of flight crewmembers’ careers based entirely on seniority. The research evaluated if it is possible, through the exclusive use of seniority criteria, to recognize and compensate high-performance crewmembers. Although the seniority model indeed creates stability and predictability for managers and crew members, the employee's performance is not considered in career development, failing to recognize and reward good performance. The statistical analysis showed that the seniority does not have direct relationship with the performance of the crew member. Results also showed that crew who were promoted in seniority criteria, would not have been selected …

Talent Management: Hiring And Developing Engaged Employees, Chuck O'Bryan, Anne Marie Casey

Publications

Talent management, which includes intentional work design, leadership development, and employee engagement, is a growing trend in the world of commerce, both domestically and globally. This article provides a review of the literature on talent management and explores ways in which this human resource management concept might be applicable to higher education and libraries.

Analyzing Cyber Threats Affecting The Financial Industry, Anna Skelton

Student Works

As critical infrastructure, financial institutions must execute the highest level of cybersecurity as the threat of a crippling cyberattack continues to develop. Malicious actors, including disenfranchised employees, state sponsored actors, and traditional hackers, all have motivations to target the financial industry, and do so frequently. However, the threat changes slightly between resource rich large institutions and their smaller, community bank counterparts. The complex and multifaceted threat must be fully understood in order to properly address and analyze solution options to preserve the security of these institutions and the economy that they contribute to.

Identification Of Reverse Engineering Candidates Utilizing Machine Learning And Aircraft Cannibalization Data, Marc Banghart

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

As military aircraft continue to remain in service and age, cannibalization of parts is increasing. Proactive identification of parts that are at high risk for cannibalization will inform engineering processes such as reverse engineering, thus allowing potentially reducing lead time to develop new parts. The research objective was to develop a causal structure that can be used for prediction of when cannibalization actions may occur. Bayesian networks allow encoding of causality between various descriptive features given a data set. The method utilized a tabu search algorithm, identified the underlying causal structure and the associated node probabilities. The method is then …

A Regression Model To Predict Stock Market Mega Movements And/Or Volatility Using Both Macroeconomic Indicators & Fed Bank Variables, Timothy A. Smith, Alcuin Rajan

Publications

In finance, regression models or time series moving averages can be used to determine the value of an asset based on its underlying traits. In prior work we built a regression model to predict the value of the S&P 500 based on macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product, money supply, produce price and consumer price indices. In this present work this model is updated both with more data and an adjustment in the input variables to improve the coefficient of determination. A scheme is also laid out to alternately define volatility rather than using common tools such as the …

Understanding Generation: Implications For Flight Training, Hiring, And Retention, Kristine M. Kiernan Ph.D.

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Generation is a much discussed topic in the literature on workforce training and education. The simultaneous presence of numerous generations in the workforce has created tensions, challenges, and opportunities. In collegiate flight training, the Millennial generation is giving way to the post-Millennial generation, which will bring its own learning style and priorities to the cockpit. This presentation reviews the scientific literature on generational differences, identifying which differences are actually supported by data. Demographic and economic trends, including data from the National Science Foundation’s Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System, will be combined with demonstrated generational differences in work-related attitudes and …

Why Do We Learn What We Learn? The Intersection Of Leadership And Learning In Aviation Environments, Kadie Mullins

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Why do we learn what we learn? Teach what we teach? Train how we train? Largely, decisions regarding instruction and training in aviation environments are dictated by leadership. Industry CEOs beliefs on professional development, organization culture inspired by leadership, and the instructors’ personal leadership philosophies create specific learning schema while legislation, credentialing agencies, and public policies provide mandates surrounding licensing and certifications. This paper will explore the contexts and concepts in which learning and leading intersect and the impacts of those intersections on learner outcomes and instructional planning. Exploring pertinent historical, societal, philosophical, and psychological factors that guide instruction and …

Recipe For Success: Behavioral Ingredients For Superior Performing Leaders, Linda M. Pittenger

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

The aviation and aerospace business is a complex adaptive system that includes emerging technologies, competitors, government policies, cost demands, globalization, and talent constraints. To effectively lead in the chaos of constant demands and disruptive and unpredictable external environments, having deep and broad functional expertise is not enough. Superior performing leaders require further broadening and deepening of selected behavioral competencies in order to succeed (Smith, 2000). Particular to aviation and aerospace, understanding the types of leaders needed to be successful is especially important since baby boomer employees will soon retire and the middle managers that will likely replace them lack the …

Calculating The Cost Of Pilot Turnover, Kristine M. Kiernan

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Controlling costs is a critical ingredient in achieving profitability in the airline industry. Typically, labor costs are the second highest cost category for airlines. Some components of labor costs, such as pay and benefits, are easy to calculate. Turnover costs, however, are not easy to calculate, and are often underestimated. This paper builds a model for examining turnover costs for pilots in Part 135 carriers, and tests the model empirically in a Part 135 carrier. The model provides a framework to assist airlines in estimating turnover costs for pilots. The case study of a Part 135 cargo operator showed that …

What Factors Affect General Aviation Pilot Adoption Of Electronic Flight Bags?, Troy E. Techau

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Why do some pilots choose to use electronic flight bags (EFBs) in their flight operations, yet others continue to rely on traditional avionics and paper charts? Does the use of EFBs differ by age, gender, or flight experience?

EFBs, now a common tool in aviation, can display navigational charts, weather, and traffic information, and automate calculation of critical fuel and aircraft performance data. Research that uses EFBs as interactive nodes to exchange data with the System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) network is underway. Understanding what factors may explain differences in pilot adoption and use of EFB technology could shape regulations governing …

Monitoring Airport Service Quality: A Complementary Approach To Measure Perceived Service Quality Using Online Reviews, Kiljae Lee, Chunyan Yu

Publications

Based on 42,063 airport reviews collected from Google Maps, we conducted a sentiment analysis and a topic modeling. We showed that the sentiment scores computed from textual reviews are good estimates of their paired star-ratings (r=0.63, p<0.01). Next, using the LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), we extracted latent topics from the textual reviews and compared them with the standard categories utilized in the Airport Service Quality survey (ASQ). The topics extracted from reviews correspond well with the categories used in ASQ. We, in turn, compared the online ratings with the ratings annually updated by ASQ. While online reviews discuss almost identical topics with those of ASQ, the correlation between the ratings from two was weak (r=0.2). We suggest that the text mining approach using online reviews not only provides an inexpensive, dynamic, and locally customizable means of monitoring airport quality but also complements the standard survey by offering an alternative metric. ><0.01). Next, using the LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), we extracted latent topics from the textual reviews and compared them with the standard categories utilized in the Airport Service Quality survey (ASQ). The topics extracted from reviews correspond well with the categories used in ASQ. We, in turn, compared the online ratings with the ratings annually updated by ASQ. While online reviews discuss almost identical topics with those of ASQ, the correlation between the ratings from two was weak (r=0.2). We suggest that the text mining approach using online reviews not only provides an inexpensive, dynamic, and locally customizable means of monitoring airport quality but also complements the standard survey by offering an alternative metric.

Project Manager Motivation: Job Motivators And Maintenance Factors, Thomas G. Henkel, James W. Marion Jr, Debra T. Bourdeau

Publications

The present study explored the applicable motivation factors that contribute to job satisfactory in terms of job motivators and maintenance factors when working projects. Students enrolled in a university advanced project management leadership course were asked to respond to a job motivators and maintenance factors self-assessment which is a useful framework to determine the factors that contribute to their motivation when working projects (Lusser & Achua, 2016). A chi-square test was conducted to determine if the observed values were significantly different from an expected value of 18. The chi-square goodness of fit test led to the rejection of H10 and …

Economic Impact Of World Bank Aviation Investment In Pacific Island Countries, Cindy Greenman, Javad Gorjidooz

Publications

The World Bank Group (WBG) has provided grant and credits to support projects related to aviation and air transport including capacity building, policy and regulation, safety and security, infrastructure rehabilitation, and institutional strengthening for over 60 years. Today, the WBG remains actively engaged on aviation related project in every region of the world including the Pacific Island Countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic impact of WBG investments in aviation infrastructures in Pacific Island Countries. The preliminary results of this study show a serious deficiency in the areas of aviation infrastructure, safety and security, management efficiency, …

Key Findings: 2017 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 206 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

Project Manager Leadership Styles: Task Vs. People-Oriented, Thomas G. Henkel, James W. Marion Jr, Debra T. Bourdeau

Publications

The present study explored applicable leadership behavior in terms of concern for task and/or people-oriented when leading project teams. Students enrolled in a university Master of Science in Project Management degree program were asked to respond to the Fielder Leadership Style Self-Assessment which is a useful framework to determine task versus people-oriented leadership (Lusser & Achua, 2016). A chi-square test was conducted to determine if the observed values were significantly different from an expected value of five. With a p value

A Profile Of Project Manager Work Engagement: A Field Survey, Thomas G. Henkel, James W. Marion Jr, Debra T. Bourdeau

Publications

Engaged employees are those who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and who are most likely to drive innovation, generate new ideas, have a sense of connection with their work activities, and are involved with the demands of their job (Gallup, 2013). Nowhere is the concept of employee engagement more important than with managing an organization’s projects. Ensuring a project manager is emotionally engaged with his or her work is crucial for project success to meet greater challenges in today's 21st-century global marketplace. In this research study, project managers were asked to respond to an employee …

Detecting Deception In Asynchronous Text, Fletcher Glancy

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Glancy and Yadav (2010) developed a computational fraud detection model (CFDM) that successfully detected financial reporting fraud in the text of the management’s discussion and analysis (MDA) portion of annual filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This work extends the use of the CFDM to additional genres, demonstrates the generalizability of the CFDM and the use of text mining for quantitatively detecting deception in asynchronous text. It also demonstrates that writers committing fraud use words differently from truth tellers.

Airline Quality Rating 2017, Brent D. Bowen, Dean E. Headley

Airline Quality Rating Report

The results of the 27th annual national Airline Quality Rating (AQR). The most comprehensive study of the performance quality of the 12 largest airlines in the United States, the AQR is conducted by researchers at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Ariz., campus. Airline performance, as presented by AQR researchers, encompasses a multifactor look at the overall quality of the airlines. It includes on-time performance, denied boardings, mishandled baggage and customer complaints. AQR is the longest running and most established measure of airline quality. AQR researchers use a combination of …

The Role Of Prior Sales Experience Of Buyers And Duration In Buyer-Seller Relationships, Scott C. Ambrose, Nwamaka A. Anaza, Brian N. Rutherford

Publications

This paper examines the impact that a buyer’s prior sales experience and the duration of the buyer-salesperson relationship has on the satisfaction and commitment linkages established within the literature. First, two key facets of satisfaction (social and economic) are linked to buyer’s commitment to the salesperson. Next, buyer-salesperson relationship duration is examined as an influencer between the satisfaction and commitment linkages. Following this, the study shifts its focus to examine if and how buyers with prior sales experience view the buyer-salesperson relationship different than buyers without prior sales experience. Findings of the study highlight the importance of developing our understanding …

Attentiveness On Airline Quality As Viewed By The Domestic Consumer, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Dean E. Headley, Mary Fink, Madeline S. Kuhn

Publications

This study examines the relationship between the quantitative model of the Airline Quality Rating (AQR), and the qualitative model of the Airline Passenger Survey (APS). Operational performance of the U.S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by the Airline Quality Rating, and qualitative performance has been monitored for the past 6 years by the Airline Passenger Survey. The AQR provides consumers and aviation industry professionals a means to compare performance quality among U.S. airlines using objective, performancebased data. No other airline study in the country is based on performance measures. The APS was added as a …

Airline Quality Research: A Student’S Perspective, Madeline S. Kuhn

Discovery Day - Prescott

This study examines the relationship between the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) and the Airline Passenger Survey (APS) from an undergraduate student’s perspective, as well as how conducting undergraduate research has influenced the student researcher. Operational performance of the U.S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by a quantitative model of metrics known as the Airline Quality Rating. These metrics include on-time flights, denied boarding, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints. As the nation’s most comprehensive study of airline performance and quality, the National Airline Quality Rating (http://airlinequalityrating.com) sets the industry standard, providing consumers and aviation industry professionals …

Airline Quality Research: A Student's Perspective, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Dean E. Headley, Mary Fink, Madeline S. Kuhn

Publications

This study examines the relationship between the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) and the Airline Passenger Survey (APS) from an undergraduate student’s perspective, as well as how conducting undergraduate research has influenced the student researcher. Operational performance of the U. S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by a quantitative model of metrics known as the Airline Quality Rating. These metrics include on - time flights, denied boardings, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints. As the nation’s most comprehensive study of airline performance and quality, the National Airline Quality Rating (http : //airlinequalityrating . com) sets an industry …

Airline Quality And The Consumer Perception, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Dean E. Headley, Madeline S. Kuhn

Publications

Operational performance of the U.S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by a quantitative model of metrics known as the Airline Quality Rating. The National Airline Quality Rating (http://airlinequalityrating.com) sets the industry standard for comparing performance quality among U.S. airlines. Criteria included in the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report are screened to meet two basic elements: (1) they must be readily obtainable from published data sources for each airline, and (2) they must be important to consumers regarding airline quality. Results from this report are retrieved from the April 2016 Airline Quality Rating Report.

Advances In Composite Manufacturing Of Helicopter Parts, Tobias A. Weber, Hans-Joachim K. Ruff-Stahl

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This study investigates and compares different methods for improving standard autoclave composite manufacturing in order to find suitable approaches to a more efficient composite production. The goal is not only a reduction in manufacturing times and costs but also quality enhancement. Improved part quality while decreasing costs enables a manufacturer of composite parts to expand its market share, especially in the helicopter market, which has been constantly shrinking over the last two years. Various approaches such as improved tooling technology, the use of automated systems for lamination as well as outsourcing are examined to provide an overview of possible advancements …

Finding The Balance Between Price And Protection: Establishing A Surface-To-Air Fire Risk-Reduction Training Policy For Air-Carrier Pilots, Earl W. Burress Jr., Ph.D.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Currently, U.S. air carriers do not provide equipment or training necessary to mitigate the risk posed by surface-to-air fire (SAFIRE) threats. These threats consist of self-guided weapons (infrared shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles), manually-aimed threats (small arms, recoilless grenade launchers, rockets, and light anti-aircraft artillery), and hand-held lasers. Technological solutions to counter infrared shoulder-fired missiles have been explored, but were rejected due to prohibitive equipment and maintenance costs. A lower cost option, providing air-carrier pilots with SAFIRE risk-reduction training, has not been formally addressed by the air-carrier industry or the U.S. federal government. This effort will use a business concept, the Cost-Benefit …

Network Carriers’ Strategic Decision With Low Cost Carrier Entry, Tamilla Curtis

Publications

Good decisions require that each decision-maker accurately predicts the strategic moves of the other parties. Dealing with prospective low-cost carrier (LCC) entrants is critical for global network airlines. This research focused on two main issues. First, it investigates competitive reaction by established US airlines when they face an LCC entrant in the less congested, small-sized US regional airports. Second, it examines which of the market indicators are most likely to influence airline fares out of small regional airports with the LCC entry. While the first stage of research demonstrated mixed results and did not discover any patterns in airline behaviour …

Competency-Based Training In Aviation: The Impact On Flight Attendant Performance And Passenger Satisfaction, Latoya Gibbs, Lisa Slevitch, Isaac Washburn

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2017), over one billion tourists traveled the globe in 2016. In spite of this increase of travelers, airlines are faced with declining levels of customer service and quality of customer experience (American Customer Satisfaction Index [ACSI], 2012). Frontline service employees, like flight attendants, create a critical impression of the service which affects customer perceptions and satisfaction. Nevertheless, many unknowns exist about what creates such impression and how it can be improved. In particular, no study has investigated the effects of Competency-Based Training (CBT) on flight attendants’ performance and consequently passengers’ satisfaction. …