Aviation Commons^™

A Behavioral Research Model For Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems For Data Gathering Operations, Paul Leonard Myers Iii

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

According to Hitlin (2017) of the Pew Research Center, only 8% of U.S. citizens own an unmanned aircraft. Additionally, regarding feelings if U.S. citizens saw an unmanned aircraft flying close to where they live, 26% say they would be nervous, 12% feel angry, and 11% are scared. As of March 9, 2018, there were 1,050,328 U.S. small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) registrations compared to 947,970 November 29, 2017. While sUAS use has increased in the U.S., it has lagged when compared to other items for personal use available to U.S. citizens as 92% own cell phones (Anderson, 2015). This slower …

Aviation Professionalism: Examining The Concept Of Professionalism Within And Between Major Subgroups Of The Aviation Industry, Rüştü Tolga Turgut

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct a secondary analysis of Alhallaf’s (2016) study on aviation professionalism by disaggregating his data into five subgroups: Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMT); Airport Managers (AM); Air Traffic Controllers (ATC); Non-Pilot Aviation Employees (NPAE), which consisted of business aviation, flight operations, and aviation colleges/universities; and Pilots. The study posed three research questions and endeavored to (a) determine factors related to professionalism in each subgroup, (b) determine the differences in levels of professionalism among the subgroups, and (c) examine each subgroup’ perceptions of professionalism. The study used an explanatory correlational design to determine the relationship …

Aviation Safety Action Program In The United States Air Force: Mobility Aircrews’ Intentions To Use Safety Reporting, Travis Jared Whittemore

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Mitigating Risk Tolerance Among General Aviation Pilots: Identifying Factors That Contribute To Ga Pilots’ Risk Perception, Nazif Sani Nuhu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that contributed to general aviation (GA) pilots’ level of risk perception, which could then be manifested as an increase in risk tolerance. The study used an explanatory correlational design to determine what factors were related to risk perception. Research factors included gender, age, marital status, race/ethnicity, education level, flight hours, single- and multi-engine hours, hours as PIC, type of flight training, number of FAA licenses/ratings, number of hazardous events pilots were involved in, self-efficacy, aviation safety attitudes, level of psychological distress, and locus of control. The dependent variable was risk perception. …

Aviation Sustainability, Elizabeth Gemmer

Honors Projects

Sustainability in aviation has become a prominent issue. There is a substantial amount of information on sustainability measures taken and discussed at the local and global levels. However, the information is spread out over a wide array of sources and many people are not aware of what is being done. There have been many past efforts to integrate sustainability into aviation, those efforts continue today and will continue into the future. Aviation is a rapidly growing industry; as the industry grows and there becomes even more of a need for sustainability measures to keep it a viable mode of transport, …

The Changing Face Of Airmanship And Safety Culture Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Tracy Lamb

Student Works

The notion of using drones for commercial purposes has evolved in the past 5 years from the initial “boom” of excitement around this, somewhat of a novelty and curiosity, to more calculated and sophisticated use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones. In the hands of true professionals, drones can offer highly efficient and profitable solutions for industrial, and commercial inspections and other data capturing tasks. The appetite for safe and efficient collection of data is a changing face of safety cultures and how teams and individuals apply airmanship principles, and how inspection crew and UAS crew interact. UAS are …

Factors Related To The Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Environmental Management Systems (Ems) At Airports, Kainan Li

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that can be used to assess the effectiveness of EMS at airports in the United States (U.S.). A survey research methodology was used for this study in two phases. The first phase of the research study included a preliminary expert opinion survey of airport managers and other individuals acting in a supervisory role to determine and discuss how EMS help improve environmental performance, and ranked factors that may be related to assessing the effectiveness of EMS. The second survey was constructed based on feedback from these experts and targeted airport employees …

Unmanned Aerial System Integration Into The National Airspace System And Airports: Risk Mitigation Using Content Analysis Methodology, Bhoomin Bhupendrabhai Chauhan

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few years, the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has significantly increased. With an increase in the use of UASs, the number of UAS sightings near manned aircraft and airports have also increased, as shown by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)(FAA, 2019a). Although not every near sighting had a severe consequence associated with it, the risks were still present. As UASs are becoming more readily available to the general public, the risks present due to UASs flying in the National Airspace System (NAS) and near airports is also increasing. For the study, incident and accident reports were …

Extreme Altitude Search And Rescue Helicopter, Matthew J. De Sieno, Anthony Chavarria, David Stuver, Zach Boss

Senior Design Project For Engineers

The goal of this design was to develop an extreme altitude rescue helicopter capable of retrieving hikers stranded on top of Mount Everest. Using the Eurocopter AS350 as a baseline, a conceptual model was produced that is fully capable of hovering and delivering forward flight at the desired altitude of 8,848 meters. Combined blade element momentum theory, proper airfoil selection, and forward flight calculations were utilized in order to optimize the rotor for the given flight conditions on top of Mount Everest. Conceptual fluid dynamics and CAD modeling aided in the process of visually designing the fuselage and rotor. Not …

Collaborative Product–Service Approach To Aviation Maintenance, Repair, And Overhaul. Part Ii: Numerical Investigations, Cassio Dias Goncalves, Michael Kokkolaras

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This two-part paper proposes a new collaborative approach to airframe maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). A quantitative model is introduced in Part I to represent the business relationships between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and MRO enterprises. In Part II, the presented model is used to assess potential financial benefits obtained by each of these stakeholders as a result of the collaboration.

The quantitative model is built to capture the main dependencies between an independent MRO operating in South America and its interactions with three major airframe OEMs. Interviews were conducted with MRO and OEM professionals to identify the most impactful …

Control Failures And How To Deal With It, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

FAA Safety Seminar (GL1591497) held at Minnesota State University, Mankato Wiecking Center Auditorium at 18:00 CST on Thursday, April 18, 2019.

Assessing The Effectiveness Of The Collegiate Aviation Safety Reporting System (Casrs) At Western Michigan University's College Of Aviation, Logan Brown

Honors Theses

Aviation is a safety focused industry that intends to continually improve safety. Many safety models have been created, but right now the most prominent model is the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Safety Management System (SMS). It has four components: safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion. NASA’s nationwide reporting system, the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incorporates these four components, as does the program created by Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation. Termed the Collegiate Aviation Safety Reporting System (CASRS), it was created to bring NASA’s program to a local scale. This paper examines international safety …

Airline Quality Rating 2019, Brent D. Bowen, Dean E. Headley

Airline Quality Rating Report

To contribute to AQR 2020, we encourage you to take the Airline Passenger Survey. Please CLICK HERE.

The results of the 29th annual national Airline Quality Rating (AQR). The most comprehensive study of the performance quality of the 9 largest airlines in the United States, the AQR is conducted by researchers at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Ariz., campus. Airline performance, as presented by AQR researchers, encompasses a multifactor look at the overall quality of the airlines. It includes on-time performance, denied boardings, mishandled baggage and customer complaints. …

Search And Rescue: The Importance Of Using Tracking Systems In Rural 135 Operations, April Larsen, Brent D. Bowen

Student Works

In January 2020, under the NextGen initiative put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), all aircraft flying in controlled airspace, both general aviation and commercial operations, will be required to have an Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS–B) system installed and operational. However, this is not required for Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 operations taking place outside of controlled airspace. Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) refers to aircraft operating as on-demand or air taxi services. A substantial amount of these operator’s bases, as well as flights, are conducted outside of controlled …

Quality Analysis Of United States Commercial Air Carriers: Airline Quality Rating 2019, Kaetlyn Blocker, Brent D. Bowen, Erin Bowen, Timothy B. Holt, Dean E. Headley

Student Works

Past research regarding major U.S. commercial air carriers and consumer perceptions of airline performance has provided little more than a descriptive “snapshot” of the average air traveler. Using the most recent data and findings, as well as building on the previous 29 continuous years of research with the national Airline Quality Rating (AQR), the present study attempts to move beyond the basic descriptive information by identifying significant changes that have occurred over the previous year. Collectively, changes may influence the way consumers, at varying levels of travel frequency, view the commercial air industry. This research utilizes trend analysis methodology by …

High Consequence Safety Research And Policy: The Us Airline Application, Calissa Spooner, Tori Kobayashi, Brent D. Bowen

Student Works

The implementation of safety programs in Flight Operations has been successful since the Federal Aviation Administration formally introduced Safety Management Systems (SMS) procedures in 2000. The addition of safety programs like SMS into aviation organizations has been confirmed to improve safety culture, communication, and overall hazard mitigation. This research explores the changes and improvements that are made in maintenance programs where an SMS is formally implemented. In the United States it is legal for children under the age of twenty-four months to fly in commercial aircraft on the lap of a parent or guardian, while being unsecured or unrestrained. Throughout …

General Aviation Hypoxia And Reporting Statistics, Timothy Holt, Jacqueline Luedtke, Jennah Perry, Michelle Hight, Claire Schindler, Pamela Ward

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

Hypoxia is defined as a lack of oxygen throughout the body, which can be caused by several factors at any altitude. General aviation (GA) pilots may argue that most GA aircraft cannot attain the required altitudes where one might be more affected by hypoxia, but it is exactly that attitude that may makes pilots more susceptible to hypoxia. The impact of this hazardous attitude is even more apparent if one considers that out of the 590,038 certificated pilots in the USA, a little over 30% of them are GA pilots (FAA, 2015). The problem is that unlike airline pilots or …

Aviation Safety, Quality, And Economic Impact: A Policy Research System, Calissa Spooner, Tori Kobayashi, Cindy Greenman, Brent D. Bowen, Kaetlyn Blocker

Student Works

The United States airline industry is experiencing an underlying mix of challenges in areas of Quality, Safety, and Economics. This research focuses on three major components and the economic impact of each. The first aspect, Airline Quality and Safety Analysis, lays down a focus on imperative safety factors that affect major airlines in overall performance. Quality and Safety findings relate to potential safety shortcomings in the second aspect, aviation maintenance Safety Management Systems (SMS). The third aspect involves implementing the Policy Research Construct (PRC) methodology, which relates the underlying challenges in Airline Quality, Safety, and Economic areas by conducting research …

Sensitivity Analysis Of An Airfoil Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Itay Savion

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

In fixed wing aircrafts, the variation of lift coefficient with the angle of attack is a major consideration. This project explores the variation of lift force and lift coefficient of an SD2030 airfoil as a function of the angle of attack, Raynolds number, size of the computational domain, length of the wing, and the fluid mesh size. The problem is modeled using the flow simulation (CFD) module of SolidWorks. The outcome of this sensitivity analysis is compared with available experimental data.

Building And Integrating An Information Security Trustworthiness Framework For Aviation Systems, Anna Baron Garcia

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The aviation infrastructure is broadly composed of aircraft, air traffic control systems, airports and public airfields. Much attention has been given to physical security along the years this industry has been expanding; and now, in the new age of interconnection devices, a growing concern about cybersecurity has risen.

The never-ending improvement of new digital technology has given birth to a new generation of electronic-enabled (e-enabled) aircraft that implement a remarkable amount of new technologies such as IP-enabled networks, COTS (commercial off-the- shelf) components, wireless connectivity, and global positioning systems (GPSs). For example, aircraft manufacturers are building wireless systems to reduce …

Launching Dreams: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Describing What It Means To Be An Underrepresented Student In A Collegiate Aviation Program, James P. Molloy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore and describe what it means to be an underrepresented student in a collegiate professional pilot degree program. The central research question for this study was: What does it mean to be an underrepresented student in a collegiate professional pilot degree program? The four sub-questions were: (a) What influence do cognitive-person attributes have on meaning that is experienced and described by the underrepresented aviation student?, (b) What influence do gender and race have on meaning that is experienced and described by underrepresented aviation student?, (c) What influence does the contextual environment …

The Impacts Of Using Augmented Reality To Support Aircraft Maintenance, Terry R. Hebert Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) expends significant resources to address the rise in aviation mishaps derived from an overworked, understaffed maintenance community, and high operational environment. Currently, paper-based technical orders (T.O.) are utilized by maintainers to accomplish aircraft inspections, servicing, and maintenance tasks. As technology advances, many civilian agencies have begun to leverage augmented reality (AR) to improve organizational proficiency. This research seeks to identify if the inclusion of AR within aircraft maintenance will positively or negatively affect maintenance task accuracy and completion time. A single variable randomized complete block design (RCBD), within-subject design of experiment (DOE) asses the …

Exploratory Analysis Of The Potential Use Of Augmented Reality In Aircraft Maintenance, Richard B. Keesling

Theses and Dissertations

During the last decade manpower constraints and an aging fleet, along with sustained war time operating tempo, have combined to place a significant strain on the Air Force maintenance community. Recent technological advances have enabled Immersive Technology to be applied to industrial applications in the commercial sector. This has sparked interest within the Air Force and generated various initiatives seeking to enhance readiness through the application of Immersive Technology. This research explores how Immersive Technology can be applied within the maintenance community. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine where the maintenance community shortfalls exist, if the available technology has the …

Product Development Process For Small Unmanned Aerial Systems, Jonathan D. Poole

Theses and Dissertations

The DoD has recognized the need for persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) over the last two decades. Recent developments with commercial drones have changed the market structure; there is now a thriving and extensive market base for drone based remote sensing. This research provides system engineering methods to support the DoD use of this burgeoning market to meet operational ISR needs. The three contributions of this research are: a process to support Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) design, tools to support the design process, and tools to support risk assessment and reduction for both design and operations. The process …

United States Air Force Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas): A Delphi Study To Examine Current And Future Uas Autonomous Mission Capabilities, Alberto Sigala

Theses and Dissertations

As UAS technology continues to grow and enable increased autonomous capabilities, acquisition and operational decision makers must determine paths to pursue for existing and emerging mission areas. The DoD has published a number of 25-year unmanned systems integration roadmaps (USIR) to describe future capabilities and challenges. However, these roadmaps have lacked distinguishable stakeholder perspectives. Following the USIRs concept, this research focused on UAS autonomy through the lens of UAS subject matter experts (SMEs). We used the Delphi method with SMEs from USAF communities performing day-to-day operations, acquisitions, and research in UAS domains to forecast mission capabilities over the next 20 …

Multi-Path Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System For Performance Limited Aircraft With Flight Tests: Project Have Medusa, Kenneth C. Gahan

Theses and Dissertations

A multi-path automatic ground collision avoidance system (Auto-GCAS) for performance limited aircraft was further developed and improved to prevent controlled flight into terrain. This research includes flight test results from the United States Test Pilot School's Test Management Project (TMP) titled Have Multi-Path Escape Decisions Using Sophisticated Algorithms (MEDUSA). Currently, the bomber and mobility air- craft communities lack an Auto-GCAS. The F-16 Auto-GCAS was proven successful for fighter-type aircraft with seven aircraft and eight lives saved from 2014 to 2018. The newly developed and tested Rapidly Selectable Escape Trajectory (RSET) sys- tem included a 5-path implementation which continuously updated at …

Simulation And Piloted Simulator Study Of An Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System For Performance Limited Aircraft, James D. Carpenter

Theses and Dissertations

The F-16 Automatic-Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) has been a resounding success since implementation in Nov 2014, saving 8 pilots and 7 aircraft from Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT). However, there is no implemented Auto- GCAS for "heavy" performance limited aircraft. This research endeavors to expand on the success of F-16 Auto-GCAS to other aircraft in the Air Force inventory such as the C-130, C-17, and B-1. MIL-STD-1797 classifies performance limited aircraft as large, heavy, and low to medium maneuverability. Using a stitched Learjet-25D model (LJ-25D), an Auto-GCAS algorithm was developed to predict multiple escape-maneuver trajectories, compare these paths to …

Examining The Drivers Of C-130j Maintenance Requirements Through Multiple Regression Analysis, Andrew V. Gill

Theses and Dissertations

As a result of increasing system complexity and cost, new aircraft acquisition, upgrade and repair timelines continue to lengthen. As a result, aircraft are kept in service longer than originally intended. Therefore, age-related wear continues to play a large part in determining mission-capable status, and therefore, aircraft availability (AA) rates. Combined with decreasing fleet sizes and manpower resource pools, each aircraft declared not mission capable (NMC) exerts an out-sized influence upon fleet AA rates. This research used multiple regression analysis to identify and quantify the effects of age, Major Command (MAJCOM) and operating location ambient weather on unscheduled not mission …

Assessing Artificial Agent Response Time Effects On Human-Agent Teams In Variable Inter-Arrival Time Environments, David J. Canzonetta

Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous systems have gained an expanded presence within the Department of Defense (DoD). Furthermore, the DoD has clearly stated autonomous systems must extend the capabilities of their human operators. Thus, the exploration of strategies for effective pairing of humans and automation supports this vision. Previous research demonstrated that the time at which an automated agent assumes a task for its human teammate, or agent response time (ART), affects human-agent team performance, human engagement, and human workload. However, in this research environment, the time between subsequent tasks appearing to the human-agent team, or inter-arrival time (IAT), remained constant. Variable IAT environments …

International Aviation Collaboration In A Study Abroad Program, Brian Kozak, Peng Hao Wang

ASEE IL-IN Section Conference

Aviation is a global industry. As we continue to push the boundaries of technical advancements and operational efficiency in the aviation industry, the reliance on the global workforce will continue to increase. In the United States of America, the majority of educational establishments focus mainly in the education and training of students for the US aviation industry. The narrow focus significantly limits the amount of exposure and opportunities available to the students of these educational establishments. In order to improve global exposure and provide students with opportunities outside of the US aviation industry, the authors of the paper successfully established …