Engineering Commons^™

Identifying Mode Confusion In Recorded Aircraft Data, James Douglas Thomas, Yul Kwon, Steven J. Landry

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In recent decades, commercial aviation accidents have occurred due to human-machine interaction (HMI) problems known as “mode confusion.” This is caused, in some cases, by a lack of understanding of onboard systems by pilots. Large amounts of Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) data are available, analysis of which could assist in identification of safety risks in daily operations. Through analysis of pilot reactions and recorded aircraft data, methods to detect mode confusion are developed to improve aviation safety. This study was conducted by inducing mode confusion into a flight simulation scenario and analyzing aircraft data to detect emerging patterns. Three …