Aviation Commons^™

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, …

A Comparison Of Safety Management Systems Training Methods At A Collegiate Flight-Training Institution, Mackenzie Tyler Dickson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to compare how two different types of Safety Management Systems (SMS) training affect SMS knowledge in instructors and students in a university flight program. Additionally, the research sought to determine whether a correlation exists between safety knowledge and safety culture perception. An experimental research design was used to study two independent variables, training method and person type, and their effect of SMS knowledge. A non-experimental design was used to study the correlation between safety knowledge and safety culture perception. Research has shown that a safety-training program’s engagement level has an effect on the safety …

Development Of A Safety Performance Decision-Making Tool For Flight Training Organization, Marisa D. Aguiar

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 141 flight training organizations are actively pursuing ways to increase operational safety by introducing advanced risk assessment and decision-making techniques. The purpose of the dissertation was to create and validate a safety performance decision-making tool to transform a reactive safety model into a predictive, safety performance decision-making tool, specific to large, collegiate Title 14 CFR Part 141 flight training organizations, to increase safety and aid in operational decision-making. The validated safety decision-making tool uses what-if scenarios to assess how changes to the controllable input variables impact the overall level of …

Cost Optimization Modeling For Airport Capacity Expansion Problems In Metropolitan Areas, Woo-Jin Choi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to develop a cost optimization model to identify an optimal solution to expand airport capacity in metropolitan areas in consideration of demand uncertainties. The study first analyzed four airport capacity expansion cases from different regions of the world to identify possible solutions to expand airport capacity and key cost functions which are highly related to airport capacity problems. Using mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP), a deterministic optimization model was developed with the inclusion of six cost functions: capital cost, operation cost, delay cost, noise cost, operation readiness, and airport transfer (ORAT) cost, and passenger …

The Impact Of Uas On The Passenger Airline Industry, Matthew Whitten

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to cover the state of modern autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) integration into commercial aviation, the future applications of the technology in the airline industry, and the roadblocks currently hindering its integration into passenger operations. Although great advancements are being made in the field, technological developments, economic impact, legal restrictions, airline cost, and public perception stand in the way of the full adaptation of autonomous technology into everyday passenger operations. However, technology is rapidly developing, perhaps allowing for the possibility of autonomous air travel even today, but there are likely years of refinement before regulators, executives, and …

Women’S Perceptions Of The Aviation Workplace: An Exploratory Study, Lindsay Stevenson, Haydee Cuevas, Katya K. Rivera, Katie Kirkpatrick, Marisa Aguiar, Jorge L. D. Albelo

Publications

The purpose of this exploratory study was to garner a better understanding of the following research question: What factors may contribute to women’s retention in aviation occupations in the United States? The Aviation Occupation Survey was developed drawing from the published literature in organizational retention and diversity in aviation to explore this research question. The survey consisted of 50 Likert-scale items on nine subjects related to career retention. A total of 188 participants (women = 70, men = 118) completed the survey. Results revealed similarities between women and men on perceptions about numerous aspects of their workplace, particularly job satisfaction, …

Korean Air Cargo Boeing 777f, Registration Hl8046, Arriving At O'Hare, Eugene Y. Lim '21

Heliotrope: IMSA's Arts & Literary Magazine

Boeing 777-FB5 HL8046, operating Korean Air Cargo Flight KE8235 from Anchorage to Chicago, on final approach to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD). The moon is visible just off the port wing.

Air Combat Maneuvering Via Operations Research And Artificial Intelligence Methods, James B. Crumpacker

Theses and Dissertations

Within visual range air combat requires rapid, sequential decision-making to survive and defeat the adversary. Fighter pilots spend years perfecting maneuvers for these types of engagements, yet the emergence of unmanned, autonomous vehicle technologies elicits a natural question - can an autonomous unmanned combat aerial vehicle (AUCAV) be imbued with the necessary artificial intelligence to perform air combat maneuvering tasks independently? We formulate and solve the air combat maneuvering problem to examine this question, developing a Markov decision process model to control an AUCAV seeking to destroy a maneuvering adversarial vehicle. An approximate dynamic programming (ADP) approach implementing neural network …

The Autonomous Attack Aviation Problem, John C. Goodwill

Theses and Dissertations

An autonomous unmanned combat aerial vehicle (AUCAV) performing an air-to-ground attack mission must make sequential targeting and routing decisions under uncertainty. We formulate a Markov decision process model of this autonomous attack aviation problem (A3P) and solve it using an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) approach. We develop an approximate policy iteration algorithm that implements a least squares temporal difference learning mechanism to solve the A3P. Basis functions are developed and tested for application within the ADP algorithm. The ADP policy is compared to a benchmark policy, the DROP policy, which is determined by repeatedly solving a deterministic orienteering problem as …

Display Design To Avoid And Mitigate Limit Cycle Oscillations (Lco) On The F-16c, David J. Feibus

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons flying characteristics and flight envelope are dynamic and defined by its external weapon stores configuration. The employment of its munitions at certain speeds can put the F-16 into a flutter-like state in which Limit Cycle Oscillations (LCO) are induced. In LCO, a pilots fine motor control might be hindered, and the aircraft may lose combat effectiveness until flight conditions are reduced. The current research attempted to provide pilots with a predictive feedback display to avoid an LCO-susceptible configuration by increasing their situation awareness about the consequences of employing certain munitions to their flight …

Fatigue And Its Management In The Aviation Industry, With Special Reference To Pilots, Rajee Olaganathan, Timothy B. Holt, Jackie Luedtke, Brent D. Bowen

Publications

Abstract Fatigue is a significant contributing factor that reduces human ability and leads to accidents and threatens the safety of aircraft and human lives. Approximately 70% of fatal accidents that occur in commercial aviation operations are due to human factors. More specifically, crew fatigue contributes to nearly 15 to 20% of the accidents (Akerstedt, 2000). These accidents and incidents are associated with pilot fatigue because of the long duty periods, disruption of circadian rhythms, and inadequate sleep that are common among both commercial and military pilots. Though fatigue is seen in all the disciplines associated with the aviation industry, this …

The Effects Of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Command And Control Latency During Within-Visual-Range Air-To-Air Combat, David Thirtyacre

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The type of military missions conducted by remotely piloted aircraft continues to expand into all facets of operations including air-to-air combat. While future within-visual-range air-to-air combat will be piloted by artificial intelligence, remotely piloted aircraft will likely first see combat. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of latency on one-versus-one, within-visual-range air-to-air combat success during both high-speed and low-speed engagements. The research employed a repeated-measures experimental design to test the various hypothesis associated with command and control latency. Participants experienced in air-to-air combat were subjected to various latency inputs during one-versus-one simulated combat using a virtual-reality …

Stereo Camera Calibrations With Optical Flow, Joshua D. Larson

Theses and Dissertations

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are currently unable to refuel mid-air due to the large communication delays between their operators and the aircraft. AAR seeks to address this problem by reducing the communication delay to a fast line-of-sight signal between the tanker and the RPA. Current proposals for AAR utilize stereo cameras to estimate where the receiving aircraft is relative to the tanker, but require accurate calibrations for accurate location estimates of the receiver. This paper improves the accuracy of this calibration by improving three components of it: increasing the quantity of intrinsic calibration data with CNN preprocessing, improving the quality …

Examining Crucial Demographic Trends In General Aviation, Joshua D. Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

America's General Aviation sector has witnessed significant demographic shifts since the turn of the century. The number of certified, private pilots, non-fatal aircraft accidents, fatal aircraft accidents, and number of general aviation hours flown are all in decline. Meanwhile, the average age of an American private pilot has increased by several years. All of these factors indicate that the industry is in decline. This study determined via mathematical, linear regression that times relationship to the number of annual, fatal General Aviation accidents and the number of certified private pilots is negative. It also proved that the average age of the …

Aircraft Inspection By Multirotor Uav Using Coverage Path Planning, Patrick H. Silberberg

Theses and Dissertations

All military and commercial aircraft must undergo frequent visual inspections in order to identify damage that could pose a danger to safety of flight. Currently, these inspections are primarily conducted by maintenance personnel. Inspectors must scrutinize the aircraft’s surface to find and document defects such as dents, hail damage, broken fasteners, etc.; this is a time consuming, tedious, and hazardous process. The goal of this work is to develop a visual inspection system which can be used by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and to test the feasibility of this system on military aircraft. Using an autonomous system in place …

The Obstacles To The Modernization Of Common Support Equipment, J. Erik Ritschard

Theses and Dissertations

The current fleet of Common Support Equipment (CSE) is faced with a $2B funding disconnect that threatens 9 of the 12 USAF Core Functions. This research identifies the barriers to efforts to modernize CSE across the sustainment, acquisition, and maintenance communities. Using a qualitative, grounded theory methodology, the responses are explored of interviewed Support Equipment managers responsible for the sustainment and modernization of CSE. Significant barriers to current modernization efforts were exposed, resulting in expensive, duplicative, and unreliable equipment; concluding that the AF must change the way CSE is administrated, funded, and culturally understood to prevent future mission degradation.

Examining Military Cargo Pilots' Eco-Friendly Flying Intention, Ioan A. Gaitan

Theses and Dissertations

The US Air Force is the largest operational energy consumer within the Department of Defense primarily due to aviation fuel use. Military pilots can play important roles in saving aviation fuel by flying aircraft in an eco-friendly manner. According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), intention is the major predictor of behavior. This study tests two models based on TPB for understanding cargo pilots’ eco-friendly intentions when they conduct channel or logistics missions. The study found that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control were significant antecedents to intention in a multiple regression with aggregated scales.

Resilient Maintenance Infrastructure: Dynamic Repair Network Designs To Effectively Manage Supply Chain Disruptions, David W. Wallace Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Supply chains are facing numerous changes contributing to their increase in complexity and vulnerability to disruptions. Subsequently, decision-makers lack a transparent, generalizable tool to quantify supply chain resilience and assess additional resilience investments. This research facilitates a more profound understanding of the intricacies and interrelation of supply chain nodes and constructs. It integrates the Area under the Curve (AUC) metric to quantify performance or any organizational measure of competitive advantage amid a disruption. Due to its structural resemblance to various organizational platforms, the subset United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 engine repair and supply network is modeled employing discrete-event simulation. …

A Simulation Modeling The Effects Of Maintenance Personnel On Aircraft Sortie Generation, Benjamin D. Huffman

Theses and Dissertations

Commanders and wargamers lack adequate tools to quickly determine the number of mission-capable (MC) aircraft and number of achievable sorties to support wargames and exercises. Even less understood is the impact of available maintenance personnel on sortie generation. The Expected-Number-of-In-Game-Mission-capable Aircraft (ENIGMA) simulation was recently developed to calculate the number of MC aircraft and number of sorties own accounting for the number and type of aircraft, scheduled sorties, mean-time-between-failure (MTBF), and mean-time-to-repair (MTTR). ENIGMA is extended by replacing the MTTR input with functions derived from actual numbers and types of maintenance personnel available. Functions in the form of response surface …

Spatio-Temporal Data Mining For Aviation Delay Prediction, Kai Zhang, Houbing Song, Yushan Jiang, Dahai Liu

Publications

To accommodate the unprecedented increase of commercial airlines over the next ten years, the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) has been implemented in the USA that records large-scale Air Traffic Management (ATM) data to make air travel safer, more efficient, and more economical. A key role of collaborative decision making for air traffic scheduling and airspace resource management is the accurate prediction of flight delay. There has been a lot of attempts to apply data-driven methods such as machine learning to forecast flight delay situation using air traffic data of departures and arrivals. However, most of them omit en-route …