Engineering Commons^™

Gender Diversity In The Aviation Workplace, Lindsay Stevenson, Haydee Cuevas, Katie Kirkpatrick, Katya K. Rivera, Marisa Aguiar

Student Works

In the past 90 years, the workforce has been diversified in many fields yet gender diversity for occupations in the aviation domain (e.g., pilots, air traffic controllers, aircraft maintenance technicians) has grown slowly. To explore this issue, the objective of this archival study was to examine the increase in the number of females and males from 2005 to 2018 for six aviation occupations in the private sector (civilian) in the United States: aircraft pilot and flight engineer; air traffic controller and airfield operations specialist; aerospace engineer; avionics technician; aircraft mechanic and service technician; and aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems …

A Qualitative Assessment Of Airline Passenger Satisfaction, Kaetlyn Blocker, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Andrea Irish

Student Works

Each year, airline passengers respond to the Airline Passenger Survey providing feedback of their experiences with major domestic (U.S.) airlines. The Airline Passenger Survey analyzes responses to a varied set of questions. This specific study is limited to the single open-ended question within the survey. This question is optional, but allows an opportunity to share any issues, concerns, and/or complaints regarding their own air travel experiences. There is no limitation on the number of words submitted. Through the application of a thematic coding scheme, results show what the highest concerns of airline passengers have been the last two years.

Developing A Taxonomy For Success In Commercial Pilot Behaviors, Kristine Kiernan, David S. Cross, Mark Scharf Ph.D.

Publications

Human error has been well studied in aviation. However, less is known about the ways in which human performance maintains and contributes to aviation safety. The lack of data on positive human performance prevents consideration of the full range of human behaviors when making safety and risk management decisions. The concept of resilient performance provides a framework to understand and classify positive human behaviors. Through interviews with commercial airline pilots, this study examined routine airline operations to evaluate the concept of resilient performance and to develop a taxonomy for success. The four enablers of resilient performance, anticipation, learning, responding, and …

A Preliminary Investigation Of Maintenance Contributions To Commercial Air Transport Accidents, Fatima Najeeb Khan, Ayiei Ayiei, John Murray, Glenn Baxter, Graham Wild

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Aircraft maintenance includes all the tasks needed to ensure an aircraft’s continuing airworthiness. Accidents that result from these maintenance activities can be used to assess safety. This research seeks to undertake a preliminary investigation of accidents that have maintenance contributions. An exploratory design was utilized, which commenced with a content analysis of the accidents with maintenance contributions (n = 35) in the official ICAO accident data set (N = 1277), followed by a quantitative ex-post facto study. Results showed that maintenance contributions are involved in 2.8 ± 0.9% of ICAO official …

Visual Flight Into Instrument Meteorological Condition: A Post Accident Analysis, Ayiei Ayiei, John Murray, Graham Wild

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The phenomenon of encountering instrument meteorological conditions (IMCs) while operating an aircraft under visual flight rules (VFRs) remains a primary area of concern. Studies have established that pilots operating under VFRs that continue to operate under IMCs remains a significant cause of accidents in general aviation (GA), resulting in hundreds of fatalities. This research used the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) database, which contained a total of 196 VFR to IMC occurrences, from 2003 to 2019, with 26 having formal reports. An explanatory design was adopted, commencing with a qualitative study of the 26 occurrences with reports followed by a …

Take Off To Superiority: The Evolution & Impact Of U.S. Aircraft In War, Lane Weidner

Honors Theses

Military aviation has become a staple in the way wars are fought, and ultimately, won. This research paper takes a look at the ways that aviation has evolved and impacted wars across the U.S. history timeline. With a brief introduction of early flight and the modern concept of an aircraft, this article then delves into World Wars I and II, along with the Cold, Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars. The current War on Terrorism is then investigated, and finally, a look toward the future. Topics covered include the newest aircraft of each era, technological advancements, and how strategy and war …

Flight Data Analysis: A Mixed Methodology Construct, Tori Kobayashi, Brent D. Bowen, Brian J. Roggow

Student Works

This exploratory study utilizes large data sets emanating from flight data recorders on a fleet of general aviation training aircraft. These flight data sets reveal and provide potential correlations between pilot experience levels and in-flight engine events within a flight school environment. The origin of this research comes from the collection of flight data that is produced during a flight school aircraft operation and analyzed by an Aviation Safety staff at a major flight training university. These data were collected over a period of six calendar months during the calendar year 2018. The raw data is analyzed through a Flight …

Fatigue Identification And Management In Flight Training: An Investigation Of Collegiate Aviation Pilots, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D.

Publications

Pilot fatigue is a significant hazard affecting flight operations;

• Generally the product of one or more factors: Disrupted or lack of sleep;
• Inadequate food and or fluid intake;
• Mental;
• and Physical fatigue.

Previous studies have focused on military and commercial flight operations;

• Little to nothing has been done to investigate fatigue identification & management by general aviation pilots!

Demonstration Of A Novel 3-D Wind Sensor For Improved Wind Shear Detection For Aviation Operations, Anthony O'Connor

Masters

Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases. Low level wind shear has been identified as one of the primary factors for aircraft go-arounds and aborted landings. Aviation reports have concluded that pilots need to have improved information in relation to tailwinds, wind shear and wind variations on approach and during the landing phases. The ability for a pilot to land an aircraft safely without the need to go-around or abort a landing due to wind conditions is crucial. During any given year, wind shear occurs thousands of …

Discovering The Data Of Safety: Embry-Riddle’S Aviation Safety And Security Archives, Melissa Gottwald, Michelle M. Bennett, Brent D. Bowen, Erin E. Bowen, Jordan I. Brown, Ed J. Coleman, Timothy B. Holt, William D. Waldock

Publications

The path to the sky and beyond has not been simple or obstacle-free, but dedicated dreamers have worked to overcome obstacles, learn from mishaps, and develop new technologies to achieve their goals. As the leading university for aviation and aerospace education, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University maintains a firm commitment to the practice and study of safety. As part of this mission, the university has established the Aviation Safety and Security Archives (ASASA) which is a national treasure of aviation safety history and information.

Airline Customer Satisfaction 2015-2017 Results, Michelle M. Bennett, Brent D. Bowen, Erin E. Bowen, Z. Bowen, Dean Headley, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline R. Luedtke

Publications

Previous research on perceptions, satisfaction, and attitudes regarding the major commercial air carriers in the United States has provided little more than an interesting descriptive representation of the average air traveler. This study moves beyond basic descriptive information of air travelers to identify attitudinal patterns and relationships in the way consumers at varying levels of travel frequency view the commercial air industry. The Airline Passenger Survey (APS) elements developed via the utilization of rigorous scientific methodology, with the intention of capturing the most important data from passengers while reducing confusion or variability in comprehension of questions. APS items are a …

Igniting Self-Directed Learning And Higher Level Workforce Competencies In An Aviation Curriculum, Timothy D. Ropp

IMPACT Presentations

Discusses the underlying concepts and pedagogies informing an IMPACT redesign course in Aviation, focused on developing workplace competencies and students' self-directed learning.

How Nationality, Weather, Wind, And Distance Affect Consumer Willingness To Fly In Autonomous Airplanes, Nadine K. Ragbir, Bradley S. Baugh, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter

Publications

Several studies have examined passengers’ trust in human-operated systems versus autonomous systems. Prior studies have also reported cultural differences among individuals from India and the United States. The purpose of this study was to investigate how nationality, weather, wind, and distance affect passengers’ willingness to fly in autonomous aircraft. Participants included 161 volunteers from the United States and 137 volunteers from India. In 12 different conditions, participants were asked to rate their willingness to fly in an autonomous aircraft, given information about the weather (sunny, raining, or snowing), the wind level (no wind versus strong wind), and the flight distance …

Isolation And Onboarding: Gender Bias In Aviation Training Documents, William Hart

Technical Communication Capstone Course

There is a growing interest in male-dominated industries and the challenges women face finding their place within the workplace community. Yet, there seems to be little research on how training documents, generally created by technical communicators, may isolate and limit women who seek to pursue careers in these fields. Technical communication and gender scholars have examined women in the technical communication field and gender bias in male-dominated industries but have not yet examined gender stereotypes in training documents. Training documents are designed to provide written instructions and a reference guide for job functions, workplace rules, orientation, and company policies. This …

Economic Impact Of World Bank Aviation Investment In Pacific Island Countries, Cindy Greenman, Javad Gorjidooz

Publications

The World Bank Group (WBG) has provided grant and credits to support projects related to aviation and air transport including capacity building, policy and regulation, safety and security, infrastructure rehabilitation, and institutional strengthening for over 60 years. Today, the WBG remains actively engaged on aviation related project in every region of the world including the Pacific Island Countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic impact of WBG investments in aviation infrastructures in Pacific Island Countries. The preliminary results of this study show a serious deficiency in the areas of aviation infrastructure, safety and security, management efficiency, …

Implementing Conditional Inequality Constraints For Optimal Collision Avoidance, Nathan E. Smith, Christopher D. Arendt, Richard G. Cobb, Jonah A. Reeger

Faculty Publications

Current Federal Aviation Administration regulations require that passing aircraft must either meet a specified horizontal or vertical separation distance. However, solving for optimal avoidance trajectories with conditional inequality path constraints is problematic for gradient-based numerical nonlinear programming solvers since conditional constraints typically possess non-differentiable points. Further, the literature is silent on robust treatment of approximation methods to implement conditional inequality path constraints for gradient-based numerical nonlinear programming solvers. This paper proposes two efficient methods to enforce conditional inequality path constraints in the optimal control problem formulation and compares and contrasts these approaches on representative airborne avoidance scenarios. The first approach …

General Aviation Hypoxia And Reporting Statistics, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline Luedtke, Claire Schindler

Publications

“All too often, pilots tell me they don't need physiological training because they don't fly that high. The statement points out the general feelings of a large majority of the aviation population. I suppose then the burning question is ‘why do we still have aircraft accidents?’” (Boshers, 2015). To this day there are no statistics on how often general aviation pilots experience hypoxia during everyday operations. General aviation pilots (i.e. non-commercial operations) were chosen for this study because:

• Little regulation regarding flight physiology training
• General attitude of invulnerability towards hypoxia
• No requirement to report hypoxia or similar events

Adopting Unmanned Flight Operations Into Controlled Airspace, Jennah C. Perry, Johnny Young, Jacqueline Luedtke, Benjamin Cook, Holly Hughes, Allison M. Little, Kyle Wilkerson

Publications

Unmanned aircraft activity is becoming more common within the National Airspace System (NAS) and is expected to dominate the NAS in the near future. Specific procedures for adopting unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System (NAS).

A variation of the Military Grid Reference System was developed and digitally overlaid onto the radar display. To incorporate this grid system, a customized flight plan database was created for the storage of operator submitted flight plans. Instead of verbal communication, a computer chat system is used for communication because of the low altitude operations in the field.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has …

Attentiveness On Airline Quality As Viewed By The Domestic Consumer, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Dean E. Headley, Mary Fink, Madeline S. Kuhn

Publications

This study examines the relationship between the quantitative model of the Airline Quality Rating (AQR), and the qualitative model of the Airline Passenger Survey (APS). Operational performance of the U.S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by the Airline Quality Rating, and qualitative performance has been monitored for the past 6 years by the Airline Passenger Survey. The AQR provides consumers and aviation industry professionals a means to compare performance quality among U.S. airlines using objective, performancebased data. No other airline study in the country is based on performance measures. The APS was added as a …

Cirrus Cloud Microphysics Over Darwin, Australia, Dorothea Ivanova, Matthew Johnson

Publications

Ice clouds, crucial to the understanding of both short - and long - term climate trends, are poorly represented in global climate models (GCMs). Cirrus clouds, one of the largest uncertainties in the global radiation budget, have been inadequately studied at low latitudes. Parameterizations exist for mid - latitude and tropical cirrus ( Ivanova et al. 2001; McFarquhar et al. 1997). Due to climate sensitivity in the GCM with respect to cloud input, without robust parameterizations of cirrus clouds, the GCM is inaccurate over most output fields, including radiative forcing, temperature, albedo, and heat flux (Yao and Del Genio 1999). …

Incorporating Digital Learning Tools In Conjunction With Air Traffic Control Simulation, Jennah Perry, Jacqueline Luedtke, Allison Little, Benjamin Cook, Holly Hughes

Publications

Learning and applying complex information at a fast rate can be challenging for students within an air traffic control - training program. Incorporating digital learning tools into an air traffic control training programs may increase student learning and success rates. Swivl is a digital learning capture tool designed to enhance student learning by allowing students to refer back to their individual classroom lab training session videos via an online portal. Embry Riddle’s air traffic program has started using Swivl in two separate ATC courses in order to determine if it is a viable solution to increase learning.

During our research, …

The Vulnerabilities Of Hypoxic Events Within General Aviation, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline Luedtke, Claire Schindler

Publications

The problem this study addresses is the uncertainty of the common circumstances that general aviation pilots find themselves in that create a hypoxic state, their symptoms of hypoxia, as well as whether or not that pilot deemed the event to put them in an unsafe flight condition. The results of this study showed not only those that were impacted the greatest by hypoxia, but also a caring concern for reporting these events to better flight physiology training. The key elements for this research were:

• Level of pilot experience who have experienced hypoxia
• Reporting statistics
• Symptoms experienced
• Suggestions for bettering flight …

Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Operations Into The National Airspace System, Benjamin Cook, Holly Hughes, Allison Little, Kyle Wilkerson, Jennah C. Perry, Johnny Young, Jacqueline Luedtke

Publications

Commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are expected to dominate the National Airspace System (NAS) in the years to come. One particular barrier preventing integration of UAS into the NAS is the lack of standardized procedures for separating aircraft and communicating with ATC. In preparation for adopting unmanned flight operations into a complex control system, it is important to identify solutions to effectively control UAS in the NAS.

The Joint UAS and ATC Team (JUAT) group has designed several simulated ATC scenarios in order to determine effective solutions for integration. Through the use of digitized radar display overlays that replicate the …

Airline Quality Research: A Student's Perspective, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Dean E. Headley, Mary Fink, Madeline S. Kuhn

Publications

This study examines the relationship between the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) and the Airline Passenger Survey (APS) from an undergraduate student’s perspective, as well as how conducting undergraduate research has influenced the student researcher. Operational performance of the U. S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by a quantitative model of metrics known as the Airline Quality Rating. These metrics include on - time flights, denied boardings, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints. As the nation’s most comprehensive study of airline performance and quality, the National Airline Quality Rating (http : //airlinequalityrating . com) sets an industry …

Utilizing Guided Simulation In Conjunction With Digital Learning Tools In Air Traffic Control Training, Allison Little, Benjamin Cook, Holly Hughes, Kyle Wilkerson, Jacqueline Luedtke, Jennah Perry

Publications

For students in an air traffic control discipline, simulated training time is limited to in - class time and is divided among the entire class. Students are required to advance and obtain knowledge, skills, and abilities in the lab because there is almost no way to practice at home. All students learn at different rates as well as through different learning styles. Swivl is a digital learning/capture tool designed to enhance student learning by allowing students to refer back to the individual classroom lab training session via an online portal.

Swivl is currently being used in two ATC Lab courses. …

A Student's Perspective On The Utilization Of Social Media For Scholarly Research, Brent D. Bowen, Jacqueline Luedtke, Timothy B. Holt, David Ehrensperger, Hunter M. Watson

Publications

The research was conducted on the continuous advancements on the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) developed by Dr . Brent Bowen, and the benefactor of research from a student perspective . The general case study focus of this research is the AQR as it relates to the utilization of social media platforms, and thus having the ability to reach out to a broader worldwide presence . Media metrics consisting of social network platforms, and news releases to assist in broadening the viewership and utilization of research in meeting individuals needs in gaining qualitative and quantified information about the AQR . As …

Airline Quality And The Consumer Perception, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Dean E. Headley, Madeline S. Kuhn

Publications

Operational performance of the U.S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 27 years by a quantitative model of metrics known as the Airline Quality Rating. The National Airline Quality Rating (http://airlinequalityrating.com) sets the industry standard for comparing performance quality among U.S. airlines. Criteria included in the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report are screened to meet two basic elements: (1) they must be readily obtainable from published data sources for each airline, and (2) they must be important to consumers regarding airline quality. Results from this report are retrieved from the April 2016 Airline Quality Rating Report.

The Utilization Of Peer Mentorship And Its Positive Impact On Student Retention, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline Luedtke, Claire Schindler

Publications

In recognition of increasing rates of repeated ground schools and flight lessons, in combination with decreasing retention rates in the flight programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Department of Aeronautical Science in the College of Aviation took initiative to create a program that identified struggle students before they reached excessive failure or financial distress. The students identified in the Student Success Initiative (SSI) after being assessed would be required to attend a mediation session with their academic and flight training staff in order to create a specialized training program.

• Student Success Initiative (SSI)
• Identifies "at risk" students
• Implemented training plan …

Modelling Fatigue For Management Decision Making: A Case Study, Rajee Olaganathan, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline Luedtke

Publications

Fatigue is one major contributing factor that reduces the human ability and leads to accidents, and threatens the safety of aircraft and human lives.

Though fatigue is seen in all the disciplines associated with the aviation industry, this paper will discuss only pilot fatigue. Based on the literature examined, this study first examines the significance of the problem.

Investigation of the inflight, pre/post flight countermeasures (both pharmacological and non - pharmacological methods) practiced at present, discusses the Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) – in this first, it defines the FRMS, briefly discusses its history, describes the organizational structure of FRMS …

Cabin Depressurization As A Hijacking Mitigation Tactic: A Consumer Perceptions Study, Rian Mehta, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Paul Buza

Publications

The security of a commercial airline flight is the primary concern of all parties involved in the aviation industry. The policies and strategies of dealing with terrorist threats have evolved since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The current policy requires that the cockpit door be locked so that the hijackers have no access to the flight controls. A new method has been discussed whereby the pilots depressurize the cabin so as to eliminate the hijacking threat since all the cabin crew and passengers will be rendered unconscious. While there is a risk of possible negative impact on brain cells …