Aviation Commons^™

Exploring Usability In Web-Based Aviation Weather: An Assessment Of The Aviation Weather Center Website, Benjamin Remy

Theses and Dissertations

To provide a starting point for usability research in the area of online aviation weather, we performed a two-part usability study of the popular Aviation Weather Center website for general aviation users. The first part of the study utilized the System Usability Scale to examine different types of weather information as used by a general aviation pilot on a VFR cross-country flight and compare the usability of the information to an existing benchmark. No scores were significantly less than the benchmark, but the ordering of weather information by usability score provided valuable insight into the relationship between usability and pilot …

Symbol Salience Affects Change Detection Performance In General Aviation Weather Displays, Adam A. Hruszczyk

Theses and Dissertations

General aviation pilots perform many tasks during a flight such as navigating a route, performing 'see and avoid', operating the radio and navigational instruments, viewing charts and approach plates, and scanning and interpreting their flight instruments. In addition to these tasks, pilots may utilize a cockpit weather presentation to monitor weather information for areas along the route of flight. Due to the complexity of most modern weather displays, information changes may go unnoticed. The objective of this study was to examine how saliency characteristics such as line color, thickness, and orientation affected an observer’s change detection performance and response time. …

The Effects Of Laser Eye Protection On Color Recognition And Discrimination, Sherisse Melanie Pierre

Theses and Dissertations

The number of reported laser strikes on aircraft has increased over the years. Laser strikes pose a threat to safety and thus, warrant attention and mitigation efforts. Laser Eye Protection (LEP) is one mitigation method available to pilots; however, LEP can affect a person’s color vision. When wearing the LEP pilots should be able to retain sufficient color recognition and discrimination abilities. This exploratory study investigates the effect of LEP on color recognition and discrimination of four colors, red, blue, green, and amber, using a sample of 90 participants. When using the LEP the majority of participants were able to …

Examining The Safety Climate Of U.S. Based Aviation Maintenance, Repair, And Overhaul (Mro) Organizations, Kole Osaretin Uhuegho

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to replicate Fogarty (2005) by determining if the current study’s data were consistent with Fogarty’s model involving the three constructs of Safety Climate, Psychological Strain, and Errors; and (b) to examine the extent to which the sample data supported Bandura’s (1977) reciprocal causation model involving the three corresponding dimensions of Environment, Person, and Behavior. The study used an explanatory correlational design to measure the relationships between the targeted variables associated with U.S based civilian MRO workers. Safety Climate/Environment variables included recognition, safety concern, supervision, feedback, and training; Psychological Strain/Person variables included …

X650f Power Solution, Joseph Reed, Joe Lund, Donald Yu, Jessica Iglesias, Daniel Ewell

Aviation Technology Undergraduate Student Research

This poster presents the problem of how that students coming out of the UAV minor and major are not getting enough flight time in the starting courses such as AT 209 and AT 219. Due to this, they are not as prepared as they should be for the higher level courses such as AT 309 and AT 319. Our end goal is to somehow increase the level of flight time in the earlier courses so that they can be prepared and ready for the next level courses.

X650f Power Enhancement, Joseph Reed, Joe Lund, Donald Yu, Jessica Iglesias, Daniel Ewell

Aviation Technology Undergraduate Student Research

This proposal seeks to define the purpose, goals, and scope of the X650F Power Enhancement project. Five members of Purdue’s Aeronautical Engineering Technology program are leading this project as part of their senior capstone research course. The purpose of said project is to look into the many possibilities of enhancing the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) power supply. This can open doors to several opportunities that can benefit both the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) program here at Purdue University, as well as the all of the students expected to go into the industry. The ideas looked into include, but are not …

Effects Of System Reliability And Time Pressure On Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operator Performance And Mental Workload, Dahai Liu, Rania Ghatas, Christina Frederick-Recascino, Dennis Vincenzi Ph.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are in the midst of aviation’s next generation. UAVs are being utilized at an increasing rate by military and security operations and are becoming widely popular in usage for activities such as search and rescue and weather research to homeland security and border patrol. In order for a safer integration of UAV’s within the National Airspace System (NAS), many research questions need to be addressed. This study examined the effects of system reliability and time pressure on UAV operator performance and mental workload. Twenty-four undergraduate and graduate students, male and female, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University participated …

An Evaluation Of The Relationships Between Collegiate Aviation Safety Management System Initiative, Self-Efficacy, Transformational Safety Leadership And Safety Behavior Mediated By Safety Motivation, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The study conceptualized Safety Management System (SMS) initiative, self-efficacy, and transformational safety leadership as constructs that relates to safety behavior (measured by safety compliance and safety participation) when mediated by safety motivation using a quantitative approach. Structural equation modeling techniques was used to derive a final measurement model that fit the empirical data and was used to test the study hypotheses. Utilizing a sample of 282 collegiate flight students and instructors from a large public university in the US, a 46-item survey was used to measure respondent’s perceptions on the study variables. The results indicate that perceptions of SMS policy …

A Safety Management Model For Far 141 Approved Flight Schools, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Thomas Q. Carney

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The Safety Management Annex (Annex 19), which became applicable in November 2013, consolidates safety management provisions previously contained in six other International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annexes, and will serve as a resource for overarching state safety management responsibilities. Through Annex 19, ICAO has required that its member states develop and implement safety management systems (SMS) to improve safety. This mandate includes an approved training organization that is exposed to aviation safety risks. In 2015, the FAA published AC 120-92B to provide guidance material for certificate holders operating under FAR 121, to implement and maintain an SMS. This AC may …

Flying The Beam: Navigating The Early Us Airmail Airways, 1917-1941, Henry Lehrer

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

We tend to take for granted the infrastructure that makes modern air travel possible. However, the systems, technologies and regulations of civil aviation are in fact the product of decades of experimentation much of it connected to development of airmail as the first sustainable use of airplanes. Hear this fascinating tale from an author, historian, educator and pilot who spent part of his life flying the Transcontinental Airway that stretched from New York City across the nation all the way to San Francisco.

Opening Autonomous Airspace–A Prologue, Samuel M. Vance

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and in particular small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), has significant operational implications for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system of the future. Integrating unmanned aircraft safely presents long-standing challenges, especially during the lengthy transition period when unmanned vehicles will be mixed with piloted vehicles. Integration of dissimilar systems is not an easy, straight-forward task and in this case is complicated by the difficulty to truly know what is present in the airspace. Additionally, there are significant technology, security and liability issues that will need resolution to ensure property and life are protected and …

The Relationship Between Motivation And Job Preferences In Commercial Aviation Graduates, Shayne A. Daku, Robert Stupnisky

Education, Health & Behavior Studies Faculty Publications

The current demand for commercial pilots at regional airlines means that graduates of commercial aviation degree programs have the luxury of choosing a particular place of employment post-graduation. What do the majority of these graduates look for when choosing a place to work after they graduate and meet the minimum hiring requirements? The present research surveyed 134 recent commercial aviation degree students and graduates to determine what motivated their decision to work for a particular regional airline. Student’s and graduate’s motivation was measured using Vallerand et al.’s (1992) Academic Motivation Scale (AMS). Respondents who demonstrated extrinsic – identified motivation style …

Airline Quality Rating 2017, Brent D. Bowen, Dean E. Headley

Airline Quality Rating Report

The results of the 27th annual national Airline Quality Rating (AQR). The most comprehensive study of the performance quality of the 12 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. AQR is the longest running and most established measure of airline quality. AQR researchers use a combination of …

A Usability Study For Electronic Flight Bag (Efb) Flight Planning Applications On Tablet Devices For Ab-Initio Pilots, Jeff Schwartzentruber

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The proliferation of mobile technology has prompted the use of tablet devices in the cockpit and during ground operations in general aviation. Due to the increase in affordable and reliable hardware (i.e. iPads etc.), the development of pilot-specific software has led to the creation of a commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS), electronic flight bag (EFB) market. EFBs have many advantages, such as reducing the space requirements for flight documents, enabling faster searching and indexing of files, providing useful tools for flight planning, and providing automatic updates. The increase in availability of mobile technology and flight applications has allowed general aviation enthusiast and ab-initio …

Method And Shear-Driven Micro-Fluidic Pump, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

United States Patent Application, Publication Number US 2017/0096990 A1, Publication Date April 6, 2017.

An example includes an apparatus to pump a fluid. The apparatus includes a housing extending along a length defining an elongate interior, an actuator in the housing, conforming to the elongate interior, the actuator including a plurality of lumens, each having a length extending substantially parallel to the elongate interior, each from around 10 to 200 micrometers across and an actuator configured to oscillate the actuator in the actuator housing along the length of the elongate interior with a rate differential between movement in a first …

Powered-Lift Aircraft Category: What Is It?, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

FAA Safety Seminar (GL1574995) held at Minnesota State University, Mankato at 18:00 CST on Thursday, April 6, 2017.

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

Distillation-Resolved Evolution Of Key Combustion Properties, Francis Haas, Jay A. Lefkowitz

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Many studies demonstrate successful emulation of pre-vaporized real fuel combustion through use of fuel surrogates. These surrogates may be described by a multiplicity of non-unique multicomponent formulations, each with pre-vaporized combustion behaviors that are essentially equivalent to the target real fuel and each other. However, many combustion applications employ fuel sprays, leaving some question as to the validity of pre-vaporized assumptions for these conditions. In the present work, a batch distillation model for ideal liquids is developed to predict the evolution of surrogate fuel combustion properties such as autoignition propensity (represented by an effective RON or DCN), hydrogen-carbon-oxygen atomic ratios, …

Find Your Center, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The Relationships Between Collegiate Aviation Safety Management System Initiative, Self-Efficacy, Transformational Safety Leadership And Safety Behavior Mediated By Safety Motivation, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum

Aviation Faculty Publications

The study conceptualized Safety Management System (SMS) initiative, self-efficacy, and transformational safety leadership as constructs that relates to safety behavior (measured by safety compliance and safety participation) when mediated by safety motivation using a quantitative approach. Structural equation modeling techniques was used to derive a final measurement model that fit the empirical data and was used to test the study hypotheses. Utilizing a sample of 282 collegiate flight students and instructors from a large public university in the US, a 46-item survey was used to measure respondent’s perceptions on the study variables. The results indicate that perceptions of SMS policy …

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 …

The Extent Of Distraction Of Cell Phone Conversations For Passengers In Simulated Flight, Tianhua Li

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Currently, passengers are forbidden from making cell phone calls during flights in the United States due to cellular electronic interference. However, some related research has demonstrated that the use of cell phones has little interference with avionics. Furthermore, any potential electronic interference can be eliminated by using new technology. Although talking on the cell phone does not cause electronic interference, the distraction of a passenger caused by a cell phone may negatively impact safety. The cell phone calls have been found to affect people’s attention and performance. In-flight announcements are popular methods to inform commercial airliner passengers of their situation …

Effects Of Graphical Weather Information Versus Textual Weather Information On Situation Awareness In Meteorology, Stefan Melendez

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Prior to a flight, pilots gather meteorological information to assess the weather conditions pertaining to their flight and to make decisions based on it. This information can come in various formats, such as text and graphical weather information. Research has shown that people have varying learning preferences and that most people prefer visual learning to verbal learning (i.e., graphical over text). It is hypothesized that this difference in learning preference can affect the way pilots interpret and apply the information they obtain prior to their flight. The researcher hypothesizes that graphical weather information has a greater, more positive impact on …

A Post-Accident Analysis Of Civil Remotely-Piloted Aircraft System Accidents And Incidents, Graham Wild, Kellie Gavin, John Murray, Jose Silva, Glenn Baxter

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A sample of 152 accidents and incidents involving Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, more commonly referred to as "drones", have been analysed. The data was collected from a 10-year period, 2006 to 2015, conveniently sourced from a limited population owing to the scarcity of reports. Results indicate that safety occurrences involving Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) have a significantly different distribution of contributing factors when sorted into distinct categories. This provides a thorough and up-to-date characterization of the safety deficiencies specific to RPAS. In turn, this contributes to the development of adequate safety management systems applicable to the RPAS sector. The …

Curated Exhibit Price Of War: Advances In Military Medicine, Laura J. Hall

Posters and Presentations

The Price of War: Advances in Military Medicine exhibit, curated by Laura J. Hall, MFA, explored the significant medical innovations arising from wartime, with a special focus on New Mexico's contributions. The exhibit highlighted the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos National Labs and the Trinity Site, the post-war work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, and the pioneering efforts of Dr. Randy Lovelace in space medicine. On display from April 1, 2017, to March 17, 2020, it documented key medical advancements, from field surgical installations in World War II to modern prosthetics and regenerative medicine, showing how …

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 …

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 …

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, …

Evaluation Of Low Cost Controllers For Mobile Based Virtual Reality Headsets, Summer Lindsey

Theses and Dissertations

Virtual Reality (VR) is no longer just for training purposes. The consumer VR market has become a large part of the VR world and is growing at a rapid pace. In spite of this growth, there is no standard controller for VR. This study evaluated three different controllers: a gamepad, the Leap Motion, and a touchpad as means of interacting with a virtual environment (VE). There were 23 participants that performed a matching task while wearing a Samsung Gear VR mobile based VR headset. Measures of performance, preference, presence, and enjoyment were collected and compared across controller. Overall, it was …

The Future Of Social Media Usage For Scholarly Research, Brent D. Bowen, Jackie Luedtke, Timothy B. Holt, David Ehrensperger, Hunter M. Watson

Publications

The research method for this project – examining the dissemination of research artifacts through social media as well as the impact social media can have on scholarly research – originated with Dr. Brent Bowen of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at the Prescott, Arizona campus and Dr. Dean E. Headley of Wichita State University. Drs. Bowen and Headley introduced the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) in early 1991 as an objective method for comparing and scoring airline performance in areas deemed to be important for consumers. Scores are calculated by defining 15-elements in four major areas, focusing on airline performance and the significance …