Engineering Commons^™

Systems Thinking Applied To Higher Education Curricula Development, Reza Rahdar, Mark London, Yuetong Lin, Hong Jiang

Publications

Systems Thinking (ST) is a general and yet nebulous term that describes an approach to understanding and working with complexity in the real world. ST seeks to evaluate different behaviors of individual system elements when they operate in isolation as opposed to when they are integrated as part of a larger system and placed within a particular operating environment. The education environment consists of multiple systems with different digital content, learning goals/outcomes that serve different stakeholders including teachers, learners, and administrators. The inherent complexity and interaction among these various educational system elements and functions make this environment a worthy candidate …

Writing Matters: Investigating The Quality Of Collegiate Aviation Incident Report Narratives, Kayla D. Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Strong communication skills are fundamental to workplace success in the field of aviation. Numerous studies have shown that a deficiency in communication skills contributes to aviation accidents, and, as a result, the development of communication competencies within the aviation industry has received considerable critical attention. Understanding the acquisition and subsequent progression of writing skills throughout a pilot’s education, specifically in preparatory aviation courses, is an emerging area of research in aviation communication.

This study examined how the level of supplemental discipline-specific guidance affects the writing quality of incident report narratives composed by collegiate pilot students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). …

The Influence Of In-School Time (Ist) And Out-Of-School Time (Ost) Learning Experiences On Aviation Career Entry, Andrew Koch

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Increased demand for aviation has created a skill and workforce gap. An understanding of how to increase this potential workforce is vital to ensure the ongoing success and sustainability of the commercial aviation industry. This research explores science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs as a potential avenue for increasing the available aviation workforce. Specifically, it explores how STEM programs and their associated learning experiences influence career entry.

Utilizing a mixed methodology approach, this research retrospectively explored the self-reported effect of out-of-school time (OST) and in-school time (IST) STEM experiences on aviation career development. Through interviews, a survey instrument was …

Development Of Upset Recovery And Basic Aerobatic Courses For Collegiate Flight Training Programs, Warren P. Pittorie, Michaela C. Satter, Meredith Carroll Phd

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Upset recovery and aerobatics are two topics in general aviation that are often overlooked by commercial pilots in training. This can be due to several different constraints, such as not having the time or resources to receive optional flight instruction, or the workload involved with locating a reputable school and qualified flight instructor. In addition, upset recovery and aerobatics training is not required to become a commercially rated pilot and start a career in the aviation industry. However, both topics, especially upset recovery, can increase a pilot’s awareness of the limitations of their own aircraft and increase their confidence when …

Improved Feedback Mechanisms Of The Hydraulics Sandbox Simulator, Karen J. Johnson, Martin Hebel

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

The proposed presentation will include the following project and results from implementation in an aircraft hydraulic systems course.

In 2020 we developed a digital hydraulics system schematic sandbox for use in an FAA Part 147 airframe maintenance technician training program (See Figure 1). The sandbox allows students to drag-drop-connect components used in systems such as those found in aircraft. It allows them to ‘test-connect’ the components to get feedback on correct and incorrect ‘construction’. As shown in Figure 1, light green ‘hoses’ are correct supply connections, dark green are correct return connections and red are incorrect connections per established rules …

V3: Flight Simulator Technology, Isaac Chung, Genta Adjie

Student Works

Long were the days of relying solely on textbook readings and real-time flying where pilots and crew have the chance to learn to fly from the humble Cessna to the Queen of the Skies using flight simulator technology to recreate near-identical flying environments right from your screen or cockpit mockup!

Safety In Flight Training - An Analysis Of The Ntsb Data 2014-2018, Michael F. Walach Ph.D.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

There were 7,500 safety events in the NTSB data sets from 2013-2018. These events were analyzed using Chi-square, Cramer’s V, and the odds ratio. Major findings in the study determined that while pilots crash aircraft for the same reasons whether they are in a training environment or not, student pilots are typically less likely to be killed, or seriously injured. The aircraft that student pilots fly however, do not share the same relative safety in some event types. Students destroy and substantially damage more aircraft than their non-training counterparts in abnormal runway contact events. The top five causes of safety …

Collegiate Aviation Students’ Perceptions Towards The Integration Of Diversity And Inclusion Training: A Qualitative Case Study, Jorge L. D. Albelo Ph.D., Nicola M. O'Toole M.S., Eugene Kim B.S.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Multiple industries have become more supportive and engaging places to work by embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion within their institutional processes. Institutions of higher education have seen the educational benefits of integrating diversity and inclusion principles within their program outcomes. Notably, the aviation industry has seen an increase in diversity, equity, and inclusion practices to attract more customers and increase the number of potential applicants. Yet, there is scant literature on how aviation students at collegiate flight institutions perceive the integration of diversity and inclusion training within the airline industry as part of their career development. This study aimed to …

Faa Designated Pilot Examiner System Insights, Wendy Beckman, Michael Gref, Timothy Rosser

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

As part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2018 the FAA was required by Congress to review Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) policies and procedures. This task was delegated to the Designated Pilot Examiner Reforms Working Group (DPERWG). This Group delivered its recommendations to the FAA in June 2021, and this research study was conducted in late January of 2022 to attempt to provide additional insights to the agency prior to its required response to the DPERWG in June of 2022.

This research project aimed to provide perceptions of the current DPE system from both DPEs and flight …

Testing Backward Chaining Ab-Initio Flight Instruction, Samuel M. Vance, Kat Gardner-Vandy Phd, Brendan A. Pearce

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

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 …

Enhancing Trajectory-Based Operations For Uavs Through Hexagonal Grid Indexing: A Step Towards 4d Integration Of Utm And Atm, Deepudev Sahadevan Neelakandan, Hannah Al Ali

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Aviation is expected to face a surge in the number of manned aircraft and drones in the coming years, making it necessary to integrate Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) into Air Traffic Management (ATM) to ensure safe and efficient operations. This research proposes a novel hexagonal grid-based 4D trajectory representation framework for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) traffic management that overcomes the limitations of existing square/cubic trajectory representation methods. The proposed model employs a hierarchical indexing structure using hexagonal cells, enabling efficient ground based strategic conflict detection and conflict free 4D trajectory planning. Additionally, the use of Hexagonal Discrete Global …

Single Pilot Operations And Public Acceptance: A Mixed Methods Study Conducted In Greece, Panagiotis Kioulepoglou, Ilias Makris

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The airline industry is moving towards Single Pilot Operations (SPO), as a result of the increased training and salary cost of pilots, and also as a remedy to the impending pilot shortage which is estimated to manifest itself in the years to follow. The main objective of this study was to explore whether the Greek public is willing to accept only one pilot onboard, what are the factors that affect this decision, and which is the preferred method of replacing the second pilot by choosing between an array of alternative options proposed by the industry.

Based on the qualitative findings …

Accuracy Assessment Of The Ebee Using Rtk And Ppk Corrections Methods As A Function Of Distance To A Gnss Base Station, Joseph Cerreta, David Thirtyacre, Peter Miller, Scott S. Burgess, William J. Austin

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The use of unmanned aircraft systems to collect data for photogrammetry models has grown significantly in recent years. The accuracy of a photogrammetric model can depend on image georeferencing. The distance from a reference base station can affect the accuracy of the results. Positioning corrections data relies on precise timing measurements of satellite signals. The signals travel through the Earth's atmosphere, which introduces errors due to ionospheric and tropospheric delays. The aim of this research was to examine the eBee X and its global GNSS accuracy by comparing the RTK and PPK methods at different base station distances in photogrammetry …