Engineering Commons^™

An Integrated Framework For Fostering Human Factor Sustainability And Increased Safety In Aviation Ramp Operations, Sarah M. Hubbard, Denver Lopp

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The aviation work environment has one of the highest accident rates of any industry sector in the United States, resulting in significant costs for both employee injuries and equipment damage. In fact, injury rates exceed rates found in areas that are widely recognized as hazardous, such as construction and mining, and it is estimated that aircraft ground damage costs are as high as 5 billion to 10 billion dollars per year. Purdue University’s Aviation Technology Department has conducted numerous safety and human factors studies in the past decade encompassing maintenance and repair operations, corporate flight departments, and over ten major …

The Impact Of The First Officer Qualification Ruling: Pilot Performance In Initial Training, Nancy R. Shane

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The intent of the First Officer Qualification (FOQ) ruling was to improve the quality of first officers flying for Part 121 carriers. In order to test this, a study was completed at a regional carrier to compare pilots hired prior to the FOQ ruling with those hired after the FOQ ruling. The study compared 232 pilots hired from 2005–2008 with 184 pilots hired from August 2013–November 2014. The pilots’ date of hire as compared to the date the FOQ ruling went into effect defined the input (Source) variable. Initial training defined the output (Success) variables. The airline name and all …

Causes And Trends In Maintenance-Related Accidents In Faa-Certified Single Engine Piston Aircraft, Douglas Boyd, Alan Stolzer

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The accident rate for general aviation remains high. While most general aviation accident studies have been pilot-focused, there is little research on the involvement of aircraft maintenance errors. We undertook a study to answer this question.

The Microsoft Access database was queried for accidents occurring between 1989 and 2013 involving single engine piston airplanes operating under 14CFR Part 91. Pearson Chi-Square, Fisher’s Exact Test, and Poisson probability were used in statistical analyses.

The rate of maintenance-related general aviation accidents was 4.3 per million flight hours for the 1989–1993 period and remained unchanged for the most recent period (2009–2013). Maintenance errors …

Synthesis Of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Safety Reports, Robert Joslin

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The proliferation and extension of unmanned aircraft systems from military to civil and public use applications has rapidly outpaced the safety analysis that is normally associated with the introduction of a new and novel aircraft. Insights into the types of anomalous events associated with accidents and incidents involving civil and public use unmanned aircraft systems operating in the National Airspace System were derived from an information synthesis of archival, publically available reports from the Aviation Safety Information and Analysis Sharing system. The vast majority of anomalous events were related to equipment failures, primarily lost link, distantly followed by a variety …

The Effects Of Aircraft Certification Rules On General Aviation Accidents, Carolina L. Anderson

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The purpose of this study was to analyze the frequency of general aviation (GA) airplane accidents and accident rates on the basis of aircraft certification to determine whether or not differences in aircraft certification rules had an influence on accidents. In addition, the narrative cause descriptions contained within the accident reports were analyzed to determine whether there were differences in the qualitative data for the different certification categories. The certification categories examined were: Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23 (Part 23), Civil Air Regulations 3 (CAR 3), Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), and Experimental-Amateur Built (E-AB). The accident causes examined were those …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Photoresponsive Nanocomposite Coatings On Aircraft Windshields To Mitigate Laser Intensity, Ryan S. Phillips, Hubert K. Bilan, Zachary X. Widel, Randal J. Demik, Samantha J. Brain, Matthew Moy, Charles Crowder, Stanley L. Harriman, James T. O'Malley Iii, Joseph E. Burlas, Steven F. Emmert, Jason J. Keleher

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

In 2004, pilots reported 46 laser illumination events to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the number increasing to approximately 3,600 in 2011. Since that time, the number of reported laser incidents has ranged from 3,500 to 4,000. Previous studies indicate the potential for flight crewmember distraction from bright laser light being introduced to the cockpit. Compositional variations of the photoresponsive nanocomposite coatings were applied to an aircraft windscreen using a modified liquid dispersion/heating curing process. The attenuating effects of the deposited films on laser light intensity were evaluated using an optical power meter and the resultant laser intensity data …

A Contribution Toward Better Understanding Of Overbanking Tendency In Fixed-Wing Aircraft, Nihad E. Daidzic

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The phenomenon of overbanking tendency for a rigid-body, fixed-wing aircraft is investigated. Overbanking tendency is defined as a spontaneous, unbalanced rolling moment that keeps increasing an airplane’s bank angle in steep turns and must be arrested by opposite aileron action. As stated by the Federal Aviation Administration, the overbanking tendency may lead to a loss of control, especially in instrument meteorological conditions. It was found in this study that the speed differential over wing halves in horizontal turns indeed creates a rolling moment that achieves maximum values for bank angles between 45 and 55 degrees. However, this induced rolling moment …