Aviation Commons^™

Effect Of Air Carrier Restructuring Strategies On Post-Bankruptcy Performance, Harold Dale Townsend

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Air carrier bankruptcy is a common occurrence in the aviation industry. However, there is a paucity of research on the topic of air carrier restructuring during the post-bankruptcy period. General restructuring literature has identified four types of actions: operational, financial, managerial, and portfolio. The purpose of this study was to partially fill the large literature gap in the area of air carrier post-bankruptcy performance through theoretical and practical contributions.

A multilevel exploratory factor analysis was conducted to explore whether the same restructuring areas were found in air carrier specific metrics. All four restructuring areas were found in the factor analysis. …

National Culture: Understanding The Impact Of Cross-Culture On Airline Pilots' Safety Performance In The Middle-East And North Africa (Mena) Region, Shareef Abdulla Kaddas Al-Romaithi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The continuous expansion of Middle Eastern airlines has created a pilot shortage. Since the local pilot population in the Middle East is relatively small, airlines have been relying on foreign pilots to satisfy their operational requirements. Consequently, pilots with diverse cultural perspectives have been operating together. In order to manage this cultural diversity and ensure safe operations, airlines have been applying a number of training and operational strategies such as Crew Resource Management (CRM) with emphasis on adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). However, CRM was designed and implemented by North Americans as a solution for human factor intricacies among …

The Effects Of Rewards On The Ability Of An Autonomous Uav Controlled By A Reinforcement Learning Agent To Accomplish A Target Localization Task, Hemali Dinesh Virani

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The need for Unmanned Aerial System (UASs) is increasing in the fields of science, security, military and others. With an increasing number of challenges faced by mankind the need for system with advance autonomous and intelligent capabilities is growing rapidly. The required intelligent behavior can be achieved in an unmanned system with machine learning methods such as Reinforcement Learning (RL) theory. This theory presents algorithms which have the capability to learn how to adapt to its environment. Using RL methods, autonomous systems have the ability to use past experiences to improve future mission performance. In this research, the effects of …

An Analysis Of Airport Surface Deviations Using The Human Factors Analysis And Classification System (Hfacs), James H. Cistone

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

An analysis of accident and incident data from the Federal Aviation Administration Runway Safety database and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database was performed to determine causal factors for airport surface deviations over a 12-year period, from January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2012. The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System was used as the framework to analyze the NTSB data for causal factors.

Analysis of the NTSB data produced 289 airport surface deviation cases, which were analyzed for causal evidence, and the results indicated that skill-based errors occurred at least once in the largest frequency of airport surface …

An Analysis Of Helicopter Ems Accidents Using Hfacs: 2000-2012, Christopher G. Bryan

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In 1972, the first hospital based civilian helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) in the United States began operations. While the use of helicopters to transport medical casualties started decades previously, St. Anthony Flight for Life represented the start of an industry that would grow rapidly in the years to follow, both in the US and around the world (Flight for Life Colorado, n.d.).

Helicopters provide a valuable contribution to the field of medicine. They are faster than ground-based transportation and able to reach areas considered otherwise remote or impassible. They are highly manoeuvrable, unhindered by traffic, and can land in …

Finite Element Modeling Of Macro Fiber Composite Actuators With Application To Wing De-Icing, Boutros Youssef Azizi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Icing can have a profound impact on aircraft performance during inclement weather conditions. Aircraft icing primarily occurs on the leading edge of wings, tails and engines. The de-icing/anti-icing technologies currently in use are typically bulky, heavy, cover the entire airfoil surface and consume high energy. These drawbacks highlight the need for a de-icing technique that can overcome some or all of the aforementioned problems. Therefore, in this thesis, a proposed de-icing technique is studied in which lightweight Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) actuators are used to break the adhesive bond between the leading edge of a wing and an accumulated ice …

The Effects Of Aircraft Certification Rules On General Aviation Accidents, Carolina Lenz Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to analyze the frequency of general aviation airplane accidents and accident rates on the basis of aircraft certification to determine whether or not differences in aircraft certification rules had an influence on accidents. In addition, the narrative cause descriptions contained within the accident reports were analyzed to determine whether there were differences in the qualitative data for the different certification categories. The certification categories examined were: Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23, Civil Air Regulations 3, Light Sport Aircraft, and Experimental-Amateur Built. The accident causes examined were those classified as: Loss of Control, Controlled Flight …

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 …

An Ergonomic Evaluation Of Aircraft Pilot Seats, Yolanda Nicole Andrade

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Seat comfort has become increasingly important in today's society as we spend more time at consoles, instrument panels, or just online. However, seat comfort is hard to define and difficult to measure. Several measures both objective and subjective were used to evaluate seat comfort in commercially available average pilot seats. Three pilot seats, which had the same material and similar adjustments but different physical attributes, and a universal classroom seat, with different material and no adjustments, were compared by 20 volunteers using subjective and objective measures in a Latin square controlled repeated measures design. A Friedman's test was used to …

Mapping Automotive Like Controls To A General Aviation Aircraft, Christopher G. Carvalho

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to develop fly-by-wire control laws enabling a general aviation aircraft to be flown with automotive controls, i.e. a steering wheel and gas/brake pedals. There was a six speed shifter used to change the flight mode of the aircraft. This essentially allows the pilot to have control over different aspects of the flight profile such as climb/descend or cruise. A highway in the sky was used to aid in the navigation since it is not intuitive to people without flight experience how to navigate from the sky or when to climb and descend.

Many believe …

Identification Of Causal Paths And Prediction Of Runway Incursion Risk Using Bayesian Belief Networks, Benjamin Jeffry Goodheart

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In the U.S. and worldwide, runway incursions are widely acknowledged as a critical concern for aviation safety. However, despite widespread attempts to reduce the frequency of runway incursions, the rate at which these events occur in the U.S. has steadily risen over the past several years. Attempts to analyze runway incursion causation have been made, but these methods are often limited to investigations of discrete events and do not address the dynamic interactions that lead to breaches of runway safety. While the generally static nature of runway incursion research is understandable given that data are often sparsely available, the unmitigated …

Collaborative Audio Transcription And Repair As A Method For Novice Pilots To Learn Approach Briefing Crew Resource Management (Crm) Skills, William A. Tuccio

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The growth of aviation in scope, scale, and complexity increases the demands for student learning, including crew resource management (CRM) skills. Instructor facilitated methods have proven effective for CRM skill learning. This study investigated a method of collaborative audio transcription and repair based learning (CTRBL) offering the potential for reduced demand upon instructor resources for CRM learning. The theory-based CTRBL method was used in this study as a way for novice pilots to learn the CRM skill of conducting a crew approach briefing with a focus on risk mitigation. Learning methods used to develop the CTRBL method were drawn from …

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 …

Analysis Of Fatal General Aviation Accidents Occurring From Loss Of Control On Approach And Landing, Brittnee Nicholle Branham

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), loss of control in-flight is the greatest cause of general aviation accidents. The purpose of this study was to determine the most frequently occurring probable causes and contributing factors from loss of control in-flight. This study used the Pareto principle and methodology developed by the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee to analyze accidents retrieved from the NTSB's Aviation Accident Database. The results showed that 73% of the accidents contained the contributing factor of "PILOT - Failure to maintain airspeed" across the three categories of reciprocating engine aircraft, turbine engine aircraft, and experimental-amateur …

The Effects Of Angle-Of-Attack Indication On Aircraft Control In The Event Of An Airspeed Indicator Malfunction, Claas Tido Boesser

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Analysis of accident data by the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and other sources show that loss of control is the leading cause of aircraft accidents. Further evaluation of the data indicates that the majority of loss of control accidents are caused by the aircraft stalling. In response to these data, the Federal Aviation Administration and the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee emphasize the importance of stall and angle-of-attack awareness during flight. The high-profile crash of Air France Flight 447, in which pilots failed to recover from a self-induced stall, reinforced concerns over the need for improved …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Public Comments Submitted In Response To Notice Of Proposed Rules On Air Carrier Pilot Qualification, Amy Chaffee Doolittle

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In 2009, the crash of Colgan Flight 3407 in Buffalo, NY raised concerns regarding the adequacy of current pilot qualification standards for entering air carrier operations. In response, the U.S. Congress enacted Public Law 111-216, which requires a pilot to hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate in order to be qualified as a flight crewmember under 14 CFR, part 121, and also allows the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modify the requirements to obtain an ATP certificate. In February 2012, the FAA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) outlining these requirements and calling for public comments on the …

Validation Of New Technology Using Legacy Metrics: Examination Of Surf-Ia Alerting For Runway Incursion Incidents, Robert Edward Joslin

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

New flight deck technology designed to mitigate runway incursions may not be effective in triggering a flight deck alert to avoid high speed surface collisions for runway incursions classified as serious by legacy metrics. This study demonstrated an innovative method of utilizing expert raters and actual high-risk incidents to identify shortcomings of using legacy metrics to measure the effectiveness of new technology designed to mitigate hazardous incidents. Expert raters were used to validate the Enhanced Traffic Situational Awareness on the Airport Surface with Indications and Alerts (SURF-IA) model for providing alerts to pilots to reduce the occurrence of pilot deviation …

The Effects Of Sensor Performance As Modeled By Signal Detection Theory On The Performance Of Reinforcement Learning In A Target Acquisition Task, Nate Quirion

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) today are fulfilling more roles than ever before. There is a general push to have these systems feature more advanced autonomous capabilities in the near future. To achieve autonomous behavior requires some unique approaches to control and decision making. More advanced versions of these approaches are able to adapt their own behavior and examine their past experiences to increase their future mission performance. To achieve adaptive behavior and decision making capabilities this study used Reinforcement Learning algorithms. In this research the effects of sensor performance, as modeled through Signal Detection Theory (SDT), on the ability of …

Relating Air Quality In The Work Environment To Occupational Health Disease, Hussien Awad Alumar

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Comprehensive knowledge of the air pollutants effects on the human health generally is a crucial requirement in developing effective policies for reducing such adverse effects related to ambient air pollution. Such knowledge would be essential in helping various affected countries, including the less developed countries (LDCs), to develop effective regulatory frameworks for assessing and managing air quality in the workplaces. Developed and developing countries therefore need to develop effective techniques or strategies focused towards improving the workplace monitoring competence in diverse industrial environments. Such initiatives are essential in reducing or eliminating the industrial pollutants within the workplaces while also helping …

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 …

Estimation Of Real-Time Runway Surface Contamination Using Flight Data Recorder Parameters, Donovan C. Curry

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Within this research effort, the development of an analytic process for friction coefficient estimation is presented. Under static equilibrium, the sum of forces and moments acting on the aircraft, in the aircraft body coordinate system, while on the ground at any instant is equal to zero. Under this premise the longitudinal, lateral and normal forces due to landing are calculated along with the individual deceleration components existent when an aircraft comes to a rest during ground roll. In order to validate this hypothesis a six degree of freedom aircraft model had to be created and landing tests had to be …

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 …

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 …

E-Learning In Multi-Cultural Environments: An Analysis Of Online Cabin Crew Training, Jose Felix De Brito Neto

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Throughout the first decade of this century, the airline industry struggled with many challenges stemming from unstable oil prices and natural disasters. Attention was given to people as tools for competitive advantage. The airline industry focused on Human Resource Management and, as a result, e-learning gained increasing attention as it imparted knowledge on an asynchronous and global basis with substantially reduced costs. However, while focusing on learning technologies, organizations failed to acknowledge learners needs and cultural backgrounds by creating neutral e-learning environments, which resulted in ineffective training and reduced performance improvement. This thesis aimed to study the perceptions of a …

The Effects Of Energy Beverages In Counteracting The Symptoms Of Mild Hypoxia At Legal General Aviation Altitudes, Daniel Mark Bull

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to conduct preliminary research, in the form of a pilot study, concerning the natural effects of hypoxia compared to the effects of hypoxia experienced after the consumption of an energy beverage. The study evaluated the effects of hypoxia on FAA certificated pilots at a simulated legal general aviation altitude, utilizing the normobaric High Altitude Lab (HAL) located at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida. The researcher tested 11 subjects, who completed three simulated flight tasks within the HAL using the Frasca International Mentor Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD). The flight tasks were …

Evaluating Dynamic ‘Landing Gear Unsafe’ Auditory Alerts As A Defense Against Habituation, Vincenzo Fasano

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Auditory alerts are widely used in today's daily routine. Unlike their visual counterparts, auditory alerts can be used to capture someone's attention, even though the user is not within visual range. As beneficial as auditory alerts can be, it is possible to become habituated to alerts. Habituation is the elimination of a response as a result of continuous exposure to a stimulus. In this small-scale study, methods to reduce pilot habituation to the 'landing gear unsafe' auditory alert were investigated. Ten subjects executed eight non-precision instrument approaches that exposed the subjects to the 'landing gear unsafe' auditory alert for a …

A Gap Analysis Of Meteorological Requirements For Commercial Space Operators, Nicholas J. Stapleton

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Commercial space companies will soon be the primary method of launching people and supplies into orbit. Among the critical aspects of space launches are the meteorological concerns. Laws and regulations pertaining to meteorological considerations have been created to ensure the safety of the space industry and those living around spaceports; but, are they adequate? Perhaps the commercial space industry can turn to the commercial aviation industry to help answer that question. Throughout its history, the aviation industry has dealt with lessons learned from mishaps due to failures in understanding the significance of weather impacts on operations. Using lessons from the …

Acoustic Emission Signal Classification For Gearbox Failure Detection, Jun Shishino

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to develop a methodology and technique to determine the optimal number of clusters in acoustic emission (AE) data obtained from a ground test stand of a rotating H-60 helicopter tail gearbox by using mathematical algorithms and visual inspection. Signs of fatigue crack growth were observed from the AE signals acquired from the result of the optimal number of clusters in a data set. Previous researches have determined the number of clusters by visually inspecting the AE plots from number of iterations. This research is focused on finding the optimal number of clusters in the …