Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Operator Workload And Situation Awareness Utilizing First Person View Techniques, Ross Lucas Stephenson Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) sector within the aviation industry is experiencing unprecedented growth. However, the regulatory guidance for the safe integration of sUAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) has not kept pace with this technological growth within the market. Current regulatory limitations of line-of-sight operations may have an impact on the establishment of an equivalent level of safety for sUAS operations as maintained by manned aircraft. The focal point of the discussion of line-of-sight operations has been the ability of the sUAS pilot to see and avoid all obstacles and other aircraft in a safe and timely …

Comparing Training Effects Of Virtual Reality Flight Simulation To Conventional Pc-Based Flight Simulation, Tianxin Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of the current project was to investigate the effect of utilizing Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for flight training by comparing the training results when using conventional desktop flight simulation versus VR flight simulation. Additionally, this project examined the user experience of VR flight simulation and how users’ motivation and satisfaction with VR simulations. This research employed a quasi-transfer of training experiment including 48 participants. Analyses indicated that VR group participants performed better in the post-training maneuver performance on an FTD than in the conventional desktop simulation group. Findings also supported that VR flight simulation could provide a better …

Intention To Complain About Unmanned Aircraft System Noise: A Structural Equation Analysis, Robert Brents

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Aircraft noise has a long and documented history as a source of public annoyance and a driver of noise complaints. The impending large-scale use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)s could expose a broader cross-section of the public to a new type of aircraft noise. Recent research notes some reactions to UAS noise, but no rigorous analyses of public intention to complain about UAS noise have been found.

Due to the potential proliferation of UASs and their attendant noise, understanding public reaction could advise both government and industry. Governments at all levels could apply the results to inform policies related to …

Pilot Perception Of Cockpit Organizational Framework’S Impact On Flight Safety And Subordinate Pilot Behavior, Robert D. Allen

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Past accidents have indicated that first officers (FO) are less likely to identify and correct captain errors than captains are to correct FO errors. Crew resource management (CRM) training was introduced in the late 1970s to improve captain teamwork skills to utilize the FO more effectively and to increase FO willingness to interject to preserve safety. Despite the effectiveness of CRM training programs, there continue to be incidences where subordinate pilots make weak or ineffective attempts to preserve safety.

This research investigated commercial and airline transport pilots’ perception of the impact cockpit organizational framework (COF) has on both flight safety …

The Effects Of Carry-On Baggage On Aircraft Evacuation Efficiency, Sang-A Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The most frequent obstacle of an aircraft evacuation is the passengers carrying baggage while evacuating. Passengers who insist on taking their carry-on baggage during an emergency evacuation not only slow down the evacuation process but also act as a significant risk to the safety of other passengers. This study investigated the factors that affect passengers’ behavioral intention to evacuate with carry-on baggage and the effects of evacuating with carry-on baggage on the total evacuation time. Overall, two studies were conducted to provide an outline of the factors that affect and affected by carry-on baggage.

Study 1 used an agent-based model, …

Developing A Predictive Model Of Depression And Suicidal Tendencies In Pilots, Tanya Kim Bulleigh

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The mental health of commercial airline pilots is as important as their physical health because of their immense responsibility for the safety of their passengers and crews. Pilot suicides that end in fatal aircraft crashes result in many injuries and deaths. Although depression and suicidal tendencies are common across all genders, ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds, the mental health of aviation pilots has been challenging to evaluate and quantify through routine flight medical exams.

The purpose of this study was to determine predictive factors of depression and suicidal tendencies among commercial airline pilots. Previous research has determined predictive factors of depression …

An Investigation Of Factors That Influence Passengers’ Intentions To Use Biometric Technologies At Airports, Kabir Olaseni Kasim

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Biometric technologies use the characteristics and measurements from humans to establish or verify their identity. Within an airport setting, biometric technologies can be used to hasten passenger processes such as airport check-in, baggage drop-off or pick-up, and aircraft boarding, thus enhancing the overall passenger experience.

This research investigated the factors that influence passengers’ intentions to choose the use of biometrics over other methods of identification. The current study utilized a quantitative research method via an online survey of 689 persons from Amazon ® Mechanical Turk ® (MTurk) and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques for data analysis. The study utilized …

Pilot Acceptance Of Personal, Wearable Fatigue Monitoring Technology: An Application Of The Extended Technology Acceptance Model, Rachelle Lynne Strong

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The research problem of pilot fatigue has been referenced as a causal factor for aircraft accidents in many United States National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports; however, the United States Code of Federal Regulations 14 CFR Part 117, Flight and Duty Limitations and Rest Requirements for Flight Crew Members, does not provide a tangible means of measuring fatigue for aircraft crew members. This problem is relevant to the airline industry and the travelling public because pilot fatigue is preventable as a causal factor in aviation accidents, and pilots need an accurate way to measure it. Adoption of a …

Gender Difference In Situation Awareness When Receiving Wayfinding Direction By Landmarks And Headings, Ziyi Dong

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In aviation, situation awareness (SA) is a fundamental requirement for effective flying and air traffic control. This skill has greatly been associated with pilot and air traffic controller performance. Previous studies in aviation and other fields have shown that gender differences exist in SA performance. Four hypotheses were tested in this study: women navigate better from landmark cues; men navigate better from headings cues; women have better SA performance than men when receiving landmark directions; and men have better SA when receiving cardinal directions. Thirty-eight participants drove a driving simulator twice. While driving, participants were asked SA questions to assess …

Human Factors Contributing To Unstabilized Approaches And Landings In Commercial Aviation Incidents: An Analysis Of Asrs Reports, Garrin E. Ross

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the human factors reported as contributing to operational incidents of unstabilized approaches and landings in United States-based commercial aviation. While previous aviation safety studies have analyzed aviation incident data when investigating the human factor influences during commercial aviation operations and incidents, unstabilized approaches and landings have not been explicitly examined using similar methods. Informed by the findings and recommendations of the Flight Safety Foundation’s Approach and Landing Accident Reduction Task Force, this study examined and analyzed the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident report data from unstabilized approach and landing events. The …

Modeling The Use Of An Airborne Platform For Cellular Communications Following Disruptions, Stephen John Curran

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In the wake of a disaster, infrastructure can be severely damaged, hampering telecommunications. An Airborne Communications Network (ACN) allows for rapid and accurate information exchange that is essential for the disaster response period. Access to information for survivors is the start of returning to self-sufficiency, regaining dignity, and maintaining hope. Real-world testing has proven that such a system can be built, leading to possible future expansion of features and functionality of an emergency communications system.

Currently, there are no airborne civilian communications systems designed to meet the demands of the public following a natural disaster. A system allowing even a …

The Effects Of Safety Culture And Ethical Leadership On Safety Performance, Kevin O’Leary

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This dissertation investigated the effects of safety culture and ethical leadership on safety performance in Fractional jet pilots in the United States. The primary objective was to develop a well-fitted model linking these constructs. A composite survey instrument was developed from instruments previously validated in the literature.

There were 305 complete and valid responses from Fractional pilots. The hypothesized factor structure consisted of seven factors. The exogenous factor of safety culture was made up of four sub-factors. The endogenous factors included ethical leadership, pilot commitment, and safety performance. Safety performance was a second order factor consisting of errors and attitudes …

Psychological Health Outcomes Within Usaf Remotely Piloted Aircraft Support Career Fields, Kris Anthony Ostrowski

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Remotely piloted aircraft are now commonplace in modern warfare. Enlisted intelligence personnel in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) who support these activities have reported personal accounts of posttraumatic stress and fatigue, possibly due to viewing high-definition, full-motion-video, remote warfare. Rates of mental health diagnoses and counseling are unknown in this population. Incidence rates of 12 specific mental health outcomes were calculated for all enlisted active duty USAF Intelligence Specialists in the 1N1 and 1N0 career fields from 1 January 2006 through 31 December 2010, while considering various demographic and military variables. The incidence rates were compared to RPA sensor operators …

Economic Interrelationships And Impacts Of The Aviation/Aerospace Industry In The State Of Florida Using Input-Output Analysis, Kelly A. Whealan-George

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The study provided a detailed description of the interrelatedness of the aviation and aerospace industry with principal industries in Florida and Volusia County (VC) using Input-Output (IO) analysis. Additionally, this research provided an economic impact analysis of the creation of a university research park in Daytona Beach (DB). The economic impact measures included not only direct economic output and industry employment descriptions but also described the multiplier effects in the form of indirect and induced impacts using data for 2012.

This research concluded the average labor income of the aviation and aerospace industry was higher than average labor income in …

Human Behavior During Spaceflight: Evidence From An Analog Environment, Kenny Mikael Arnaldi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Spaceflight offers a multitude of stressors to humans living and working in space, originating from the external space environment and the life-support system. Future space participants may be ordinary people with different medical and psychosocial backgrounds who may not receive the intense spaceflight preparation of astronauts. Consequently, during a mission, a space participant’s mood and behavior could differ from a trained astronaut. This study was an exploratory research project that used an artificial habitat to replicate an orbital environment and the activities performed by humans in space. The study evaluated whether the type of environment affects mood and temperament. Two …

Comparison Of Three Angle Of Attack (Aoa) Indicators: A Usability Study, Camilo Jimenez

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Angle of Attack (AOA) is an important aeronautical concept used to understand the performance status of an aircraft during different flight stages. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has indicated the importance of developing and encouraging the use of affordable AOA based systems to increase inflight safety. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's flight department decided to install AOA indicators in its fleet of Cessna 172S, to increase safety and to help student pilots better understand this important concept. This paper presents a review of AOA, visual display design principles, and usability. This experimental study examined three different AOA indicators provided by the …

The Effects Of Ethical Leadership And Organizational Safety Culture On Safety Outcomes, David Ronald Freiwald

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This dissertation investigated the relationship among ethical leadership, an ethical workplace climate, safety culture, safety behaviors, and measured safety outcomes of workers in the high reliability organizations of aviation and healthcare. The primary objective was to develop a model linking these factors and assess their fit within the model. A secondary objective was to examine differences between the two populations. In this study, a 101-item instrument was used to collect and analyze employee responses on ten factors comprising the model. Structural equation modeling – path analysis was used for testing and evaluating relations using a combination of statistical analysis and …

A Naturalistic Study Of Long-Term Working Memory Capacity For Meaningful Visual And Auditory Stimuli, Joseph M. Jaworski

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore long-term working memory in experts in an information-rich, dynamic domain. Of particular interest were strategies experts use to enhance long-term working memory capacity when working with verbal versus aural information. Three air traffic control instructors participated in four complex air traffic control scenarios, two radar scenarios in which information was presented visually and two non-radar scenarios in which information presentation was purely aural. Participants recalled traffic situation information at two points during and at the end of each scenario. Recall data for each scenario type were assessed in terms of evidence about …

Comparison Of Voice And Text Atc Communications In The Cockpit For Esl Pilots, Shannon Marie Cummings

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Throughout the course of any flight, pilots and air traffic control (ATC) are in constant radio communication regarding the position and route of the aircraft. Effective pilot-ATC communication helps to increase safety by increasing the situation awareness of both the pilot and controller. In the current pilot-ATC communication system, auditory messages are sent back and forth between the pilot and controller. The nature of these auditory messages makes them highly susceptible to memory and information processing limitations. This effect is magnified when dealing with pilots who have learned English as a second language (ESL) as people have more difficulty processing …

Spatial Cognition Differences Between Men And Women In Spatial Cue Environments During Flight Simulation, Heidi Crystal Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Ground reference maneuvers are an important component of pilot training. In order to perform these maneuvers, pilots rely on cues from the environment to determine where their aircraft is in relation to objects on the ground. This process requires a high degree of spatial cognition, which refers to the cognitive processes used to orient oneself in space. Two factors that can influence spatial cognition in the context of aviation ground reference maneuvers are the availability of spatial cues and the biological sex of the pilot. Research suggests spatial cues aid in the identification of potentially dangerous objects. In the context …

Analyzing Communication Performance: A Comparison Of Native-English Speakers And Non-Native English Speakers, Tami Marie Gibbs

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to research how well native and non-native English speakers proficiently communicated using learned Air Traffic Control (ATC) phraseology, and how well they communicated using plain phraseology. The participants in this study were Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) flight students at the Daytona Beach campus. This study used a sample of students from English-speaking countries and a sample of students from non-English speaking countries. A quantified study of the types of communication errors was conducted by listening to a pre-defined amount of voice communications between the Daytona Beach International Airport tower facility and ERAU flight student …

Pre-Exposure Training As A Means To Reduce Vection Induced Symptoms Of Motion Sickness, Nicholas James Stapleton

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The focus of this study was designed to empirically examine the effect of inducing mild motion sickness as an ameliorative to a more severe motion sickness exposure. Twenty-seven participants were selected for this study based upon their susceptibility to motion sickness, that is, only people who were determined to be motion susceptible were tested. All participants were exposed to a motion sickness-inducing environment. Eighteen participants were trained to adapt to motion sickness by exposure to a milder motion sickness-inducing environment, ending either 6 hours or 24 hours prior to the more severe motion test environment.

Participants during the pre-exposure experimental …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

The Effects Of System Reliability And Time Pressure On Unoccupied Aircraft Systems Operator Performance And Mental Workload, Rania Wageh Ghatas

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) are in the midst of aviation`s next generation. UAS are being utilized at an increasing rate by military and security operations and are becoming widely popular in usage from search and rescue and weather research to homeland security and border patrol. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently working to define acceptable UAS performance standards and procedures for routine access for their use in the National Airspace System (NAS). This study examined the effects of system reliability and time pressure on unoccupied aircraft systems operator performance and mental workload. Twenty-four undergraduate and graduate students, male and …