Aviation Commons^™

Effects Of Oxygen Deprivation On Pilot Performance And Cognitive Processing Skills: A Pilot Study, David Francis Shideler

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, pilots flying above 14,000 ft. are required to use supplemental oxygen. The purpose of this study was to examine how oxygen deprivation below 14,000 ft. affects pilot performance using the Frasca Mentor Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD), and cognitive processing skills using the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM(TM)) cognitive test. The study was conducted in a Normobaric High Altitude Laboratory at simulated altitudes of 5,000 ft. and 14,000 ft. In this pilot study, only five participants were tested; non-significant results of the analysis were anticipated; however, as oxygen levels decreased and time of …

The Effects Of Expertise And Information Location On Change Blindness Detection Within An Aviation Domain, Dinorah Zárate

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Change blindness is a phenomenon where the viewer fails to detect change in an object or scene during a visual disturbance. During a flight, a pilot samples multiple displays for information about the task at hand. It is imperative that the changes in the displays are being correctly viewed by pilots to ensure a safe flight. However, it is unknown how much change blindness affects pilots or if pilot expertise plays a role in change detection.

A change blindness experiment was performed with twenty four participants divided into two groups based on expertise. Expert pilots were defined as instructor pilots …

The Effect Of Control And Display Lag On Uas Internal Pilot Manual Landing Performance, Marshall Everett Lloyd

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

An important characteristic of UASs is lag because it can become a considerable challenge to successful human-in-the-loop control. As such, UASs are designed and configured to minimize system lag, though this can increase acquisition and operation costs considerably. In an effort to cut costs, an organization may choose to accept greater risk and deploy a UAS with high system lag. Before this risk can be responsibly accepted, it must be quantified.

While many studies have examined system lag, very few have been able to quantify the risk that various levels of lag pose to an internally piloted, manually landed UAS. …

An Evaluation Of Rta Symbols To Improve Pilot Situation Awareness, Erik D. Schmidt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate different types of temporal guidance symbol sets in 4]Dimensional displays. Different displays were evaluated using situation awareness (SA) as a dependent measure. Participants were a mixture of non]pilots and pilots with an average flight time of 155 hours. All 24 participants were randomly assigned to their experimental condition. Objective SA data was collected during the experiment. After the experiment, each participant completed a subjective questionnaire. No significance was found between the pilots and non-pilots. No significance was found between types of displays. And, no interaction was found between groups.

Naturalistic Study Examining The Data/Frame Model Of Sensemaking By Assessing Experts In Complex, Time-Pressured Aviation Domains, Katherine P. Kaste

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Research on expert chess players, radiologists and landmine detection personnel suggests a use of cognitive frameworks, alternatively referred to as schemas, templates, scripts, frames and models, to effectively perceive, interpret, understand, recall, and anticipate information. These experts may use cognitive frameworks to capture past experience in ways that support rapid pattern recognition, adaptive responses and proactivity. The proposed research approach assumes that experienced pilots will similarly rely on cognitive frameworks to handle information and make sense of complex, fast-moving situations experienced in their information-dense environments. Predictions from Klein et al.'s (2006) Data/Frame Model of Sensemaking were used to evaluate event-based …

Analysis Of The Effects Of Hypoxia On Cognitive Processing Ability, Meaghan Catherine Hart

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This one way repeated measures analysis with five levels of oxygen saturation used the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Normobaric High Altitude Lab (HAL) to determine the cognitive reduction in spatial orientation and mental math ability experienced by individuals at progressively increasing levels of hypoxia, measured in blood oxygen saturation, when exposed to the FAA legal altitude of 15,000 feet. Each of the eleven participants in the study ( N = 11) were exposed to both a normoxic normobaric (nominal PO2 = 21%) environment in a conference room and hypoxic normobaric environment (PO2 = 12.21%) in the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University …

Assessing Color Discrimination, Joshua R. Maxwell

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate human color vision discriminability within individuals that have color normal vision and those that have color deficient vision. Combinations of 15 colors were used from a list of colors recommended for computer displays in Air Traffic Control settings, a population with some mildly color vision deficient individuals. After a match to sample test was designed to assess the limits of human color vision discrimination based on color saturation and hue, standard color diagnostic tests were used to categorize college students as having normal or deficient color vision. The results argue that color …