Aviation Commons^™

A Multiple Ant Colony Metaheuristic For The Air Refueling Tanker Assignment Problem, Ronjon Annaballi

Theses and Dissertations

The performance of the Nuclear Facility (NFAC) incident module in modeling a nuclear reactor accident is evaluated. Fallout predictions are compared with air concentration measurements of I-131 in Europe over a five-day period. Two categories of source term specifications are used: NFAC-generated source terms based on plant conditions and accident severity, and user-defined source terms based on specifying the release of I-131. The Atmospheric Transport Model Evaluation Study report source term provided the needed detailed release information. The Air Force Combat Climatology Center provided weather data covering Europe during the release's 11-day duration. For the NFAC-generated source terms as few …

Suppression Of Pilot-Induced Oscillation (Pio), Donald A. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Closed loop instability caused by excess phase lag induced by actuator rate limiting has been suspected in many pilot-induced oscillations (PIOs) and oscillatory departures from controlled flight. As part of the joint AFIT/TPS program, a longitudinal pilot command notch filter activated by a real-time oscillation verifier (ROVER) algorithm was developed to eliminate the PIO source for any developing, severe PIO. Closed loop computer simulations were conducted to prepare for the flight test. The HAVE ROVER flight test project was flown using the NF-16D Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA). A programmable heads-up display (HUD) was used to generate a …

An Analysis Of Airfield Throughput At Elmendorf Air Force Base Using The Airfield Simulation Tool, Andrew C. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to describe Turkish defense offsets in foreign procurements. Located at the epicenter of regions fraught with crisis, Turkey is a secular, democratic, liberal country sharing western moral values. With the tradition of its 1,000 years of statehood, its constitutional order, and its strong armed forces, Turkey is a center of power that can affect delicate balances of power in the region. Offsets started to become an important way of obtaining industrial and technological benefits when importing military equipment in the early and mid-1980s. Offset deals remain an important aspect of Turkish arms importing policy and offset applications …

An Interactive Decision Support System For Scheduling Fighter Pilot Training, Cuong T. Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force is developing Modular Aircraft Support System (MASS) program to replace the current Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE). AGE supplies electricity, nitrogen, hydraulics and other support equipment to maintenance activities at the flight line. Current AGE makes up one-third of the deployment footprint. AGE is also mostly aircraft specific, and has reliability problems. The MASS alternative focuses on modularity based on a plug-and-play approach. The technological improvements and possible reduction in the footprint make MASS a good alternative. The AF has to determine now, whether MASS can supply similar functionality and decrease the deployment footprint to theater, while …

Flight Physician - February, 2002, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A sixteen page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Fuel Consumption Modeling Of A Transport Category Aircraft Using Flight Operations Quality Assurance Data: A Literature Review, Alan J. Stolzer

Publications

"Fuel is a major cost expense for air carriers. A typical airline spends 10% of its operating budget on the purchase of jet fuel, which even exceeds its expenditures on aircraft acquisitions. Thus, it is imperative that fuel consumption be managed as wisely as possible. The implementation of Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) programs at airlines may be able to assist in this management effort. The purpose of the study is to examine the literature regarding fuel consumption by air carriers, the literature related to air carrier fuel conservation efforts, and the literature related to the appropriate statistical methodologies to …

The Shipboard Office' : The Role Of It And Multi-Media Systems In Managing Engineering Operations And Maintenance Onboard Ship, Okechukwu Ebere Sylvanus Obara

World Maritime University Dissertations

This dissertation is an investigation of the roles of information technology and multimedia systems in the management of engineering operations and maintenance onboard ships. It considers the implications and constraints of adopting these technology tools on the economies of ship owners or managements companies, Maritime Administrations, and the Maritime Education and Training Institutions, especially in the developing countries. The study reviews the various shipboard maintenance policies and management techniques currently being practised in the traditional shipboard office with a view of understanding its constraints and the needs of adopting the various technological tools and systems. It also examines critically, the …

Design And Construction Of A 1/3-Scale, 1986 Cessna 172p Flight-Test Aircraft, Michael J. Hinton

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The incredible cost of prototype flight testing can be a very limiting factor in the optimization of new designs as they proceed from the drawing board to the flight line. The use of low-cost scaled models to predict full-scale prototype performance is the focus of this project. It will be shown that by strictly following geometric and dynamic scaling criteria, the scaled aircraft's flight performance can be predictably related to the full-scale aircraft's performance. Many companies have performed scaled flight-testing of Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPV's) and there is much speculation as to the results of these tests, but non-proprietary information …

The Effect Of Cockpit Noise On Aircraft Pilot Psychomotor Performance, Kelechi (Kc) Nwabeke

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cockpit noise on aircraft pilot psychomotor performance on a simulated tracking task. The performance of thirty-two participants was measured on a vertical and horizontal tracking task. In the control group, eight participants were used in a quiet condition. In the experimental group, eight participants were exposed to low intensity cockpit noise (50 dBA), eight participants were exposed to medium intensity cockpit noise (60 dBA) and eight participants were expose to high intensity cockpit noise (70 dBA). The performance of the control and experimental groups was measured in an advanced …

Human Technology And Terrorism: Implications For Aviation Security, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes common human vulnerabilities when using technology to minimize aviation security threat.

Flight Physician - September, 2001, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A fourteen page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Human Factors Survey Of Aviation Technical Manuals, Phase 1: Manual Development Procedures, Alex Chaparro, Loren S. Groff

Publications

This report contains the results from Phase 1 of a three-phase research effort. Phase 1 examines aviation industry procedures for developing maintenance technical data. Phase 2 will document user problems with maintenance technical data. Phase 3 will identify maintenance technical data development improvements by applying human factors principles. Five aircraft manufacturers were surveyed regarding company policy, communication, data tracking, user feedback, and error reduction efforts. The five industry participants represent both regional and large commercial transport manufacturers. Phase 1 survey results revealed three significant maintenance technical data issues: inconsistent development process guidelines, reactive rather than proactive response to user feedback, …

Transitory Forecasting Methodology: Passenger/Revenue Share And Capacity Share (The S-Curve), Marlene Marie Dugan

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the relationship between a carrier's service/capacity share and passenger share to determine the presence of the s-curve. The author is unaware of a current, accepted analysis for understanding the s-curve with any degree of reliability. Regression analysis was used to correlate service/capacity share against passenger share for domestic, United States air carriers. Carrier ranking was then added as a predicting variable to gain further insight into the correlation between service share and passenger share. It is anticipated that this study will be beneficial to airline network planners in their analysis of …

Trends. The Ghost In The Machine: Is Bill Clinton Running Us Policy On China, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses aviation safety and the continuity of use/misuse of words by U.S. administrations, regardless of political affiliation.

The Role Of Eeg Biofeedback Training Preceding An Automated Monitoring Task, Matthew Bernd Hilscher

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Discussions are taking place in aviation circles to revamp and revolutionize air traffic management under the term "free-flight". The plans for a new system would incorporate, to a high degree, automation technologies that may have important human factors implications. One such concern speaks to quality of mental involvement as authority roles change. This modification of cerebral involvement may have an effect on performance during critical system failures. The purpose of this research has been to investigate whether specialized EEG biofeedback training might have an ameliorating effect on reducing the vigilance decrement. Partial support was found that evidences utility to this …

Air Cargo As A Different Business Unit, Juan M. Gomez

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

By combining cargo and passenger operations under the same business, airlines are facing an operational conflict with respect to the cargo operation, which has always been perceived as a by-product and not as an essential revenue generating activity; This fact leads to poor product quality, weak revenues, and value deterioration. By dedicating time and resources to the cargo operation in a different business unit with a defined strategy, carriers may increase cargo profitability and achieve superior operational results.

The purpose of this study is to identify and explain the benefits for passenger airlines to invest in air-cargo operations by defining …

Bridge Programs: A Strategic Partnership, Tim Brady

Publications

The results of a study commissioned by the National Business Aviation Association discussing factors related to alleviating airline pilot shortages. By utilizing universities with existing pilot training programs, universities are able to train new pilots in company-specific procedures. This bridge program allows the company to interface with the university and influence curriculum design.

Enhancing Commercial Aircraft Survivability Via Active Venting, Roger L. Veldman

Dissertations

A new technique for enhancing aircraft safety in the event of an on-board explosion was studied. The method under study employs deployable vent panels located on the fuselage which are activated by an array of pressure sensors in the aircraft interior. In the event that an explosion is detected, appropriate vent panels are rapidly released from the aircraft. This approach seeks to provide timely relief of explosive pressures within an aircraft to prevent catastrophic structural failure.

In this study, the approximate time scale of an explosive detonation and the subsequent sensing and electronic processing was determined. Then, the actuation response …

Optimistic And Ability Biases In Pilots’ Decisions And Perceptions Of Risk Regarding Vfr Flight Into Imc, Dale R. Wilson, Marte Fallshore

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

Aircraft accidents resulting from attempted visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) continue to be one of the leading causes of fatalities in aviation. The aim of this study is to determine the role which two decision biases— optimistic bias and ability bias—may play in pilots’ decisions and perceptions of risk regarding VFR flight into IMC. A questionnaire designed to test for the presence of these biases was administered to 57 pilots enrolled in a university flight-training program and 103 general aviation pilots attending two FAA aviation safety seminars. Respondents were asked to rate their chances of …

Flight Physician - March, 2001, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A seventeen page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Requirements-Based Methodology For Determining Age Inventory Levels, James A. Mackenna

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to illuminate crucial areas in analyzing AGE needs on an operational flightllne and assist in determination of AGE inventory levels. Further refinements could result in more objective and accurate assessments of actual flightline AGE needs and associated risks involved with reduction of AGE inventory levels. The research in this thesis consists of a discrete event simulation to determine desired AGE inventory level through an analysis of aircraft launches and wait time for AGE support by varying AGE (mean time between failure) MTBF and AGE inventory. Stochastic inputs for aircraft failures, AGE delivery times, and …

Pilot Mental Workload Calibration, Jeremy B. Noel

Theses and Dissertations

Predicting high pilot mental workload is important to the U.S. Air Force because lives and aircraft can be lost when errors are made during periods of mental overload and task saturation. Current research efforts use psychophysiological measures such as electroencephalography, cardiac, ocular, and respiration measures in an attempt to identify and predict mental workload levels. The primary focus of this effort is the development of a calibration scheme that allows a small subset of salient psychophysiological features developed using actual flight data for one pilot on a given day to accurately classify pilot mental workload for a separate pilot on …

Estimating C-17 Operating And Support Costs: Development Of A System Dynamics Model, Christopher D. Purvis

Theses and Dissertations

This research provides justification for experimenting with system dynamics (SD) for performing Operation and Support Cost estimates. For the C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft, these costs could exceed $64 billion dollars. Also, many of our weapon systems are beginning to reach the end of their effective life span, and discussions about the impact of aging, on aircraft, has become a hot topic in the literature. System Dynamics is a modeling methodology developed in 1958, but never used extensively for cost estimating. SD offers unique capabilities to the cost estimator, including the ability to model causal relationships. This capability offers the …

The Effect Of Improving The Logistics Pipeline On Supply Support Of Aerospace Expeditionary Forces, Steven L. Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

One of the biggest considerations for an Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF), in terms of cost and airlift requirement, is the use of aircraft spares kits to support combat operations. To date, these kits are built on the assumption that there would be no resupply for the first 30 days of a contingency. However, with more efficient transportation and information resources available today, it seems logical that resupply would occur much more quickly. If so, the Air Force should be able to trim its wartime stocks of aircraft spares. This thesis investigated the effect of improving the logistics pipeline on the …

Aircraft Maintenance Performance: The Effects Of The Functional Decentralization Of On-Equipment Maintenance, Mark A. Commenator

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force has implemented various aircraft maintenance organizational structures. The implementation of the Objective Wing in the early 1990s was the latest occurrence of reorganization. This research looks at the effect of the type of aircraft maintenance organizational structure on aircraft maintenance performance. The type of organizational structure was defined by the functional centralization of the on-equipment maintenance. Aircraft maintenance performance was measured using TNMCM rates, fix rates, repeat/recur rates, man-hours per flying hour, and scheduling effectiveness rates. Three F-15 wings and three F-16 wings were selected to compare the changes in aircraft maintenance performance and to determine if …

A Methodology For Simulating The Joint Strike Fighter's Prognostics And Health Management System, Michael E. Malley

Theses and Dissertations

The Autonomic Logistics System Simulation (ALSim) model was developed to provide decision makers a tool to make informed decisions regarding the Joint Strike Fighter's (JSF) Autonomic Logistics System (ALS). The ALS provides real-time maintenance information to ground maintenance crews, supply depots, and air planners to efficiently manage the availability of JSF aircraft. This thesis effort focuses on developing a methodology to model the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) component of ALS. The PHM component of JSF monitors the aircraft status. To develop a PHM methodology to use in ALSim a neural network approach is used. Notional JSF prognostic signals were …

Identification Of Critical Roles Of Program Managers And Contracting Officers, Daniel R. Shingledecker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to identify current disagreement among acquisition professionals in regards to their role and authority; and to identify benefits and risks associated with combining program management and contracting officer roles into a single position. The research questions were answered through a literature review and use of the Delphi technique. The literature review indicated that the DoD has been operating with multiple conflicting perceptions of authority among its key acquisition professionals. The literature also identified the need for complex organizations, such as DoD acquisition offices, to pair high levels of responsibility with equally high levels of …

A Human Error Analysis Of Commercial Aviation Accidents Using The Human Factors Analysis And Classification System (Hfacs), Douglas A. Wiegmann, Scott A. Shappell

Publications

The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) is a general human error framework originally developed and tested within the U.S. military as a tool for investigating and analyzing the human causes of aviation accidents. Based upon Reason’s (1990) model of latent and active failures, HFACS addresses human error at all levels of the system, including the condition of aircrew and organizational factors. The purpose of the present study was to assess the utility of the HFACS framework as an error analysis and classification tool outside the military. Specifically, HFACS was applied to commercial aviation accident records maintained by the …

Gulfstream Aerospace Aircraft Static Position Utility, Mark Eugene Ray

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

My research project implements a Java based utility developed for commercial application by Gulfstream Aerospace employees and customers to determine static position data of Gulfstream aircraft. The static position data includes aircraft attitude, nose and main landing gear loads and aircraft ground clearance data.

The previous methods used to obtain this data were a family of spreadsheets. The spreadsheet solution has proven to be awkward and inaccessible for providing the required data. Therefore, Gulfstream Aerospace Management approved the design and implementation of a new aircraft static position utility.

The new utility is identified as the Gulfstream Aircraft Static Position (GASP) …

Estimating Budget Relationships With A Leontief Input-Output Model, Guenever L. R. Shariff

Theses and Dissertations

Forty years ago, the Office of the Secretary of Defense proposed using the Leontief input-output model to assess tradeoffs in the Department of Defense's (DoD) budget. We demonstrate that the Leontief input-output model can assess tradeoffs in the Air Force's budget. To increase one part of the Air Force's budget, we need to know the interrelationships between that budget area and the other areas. In this research, we look at different methods of how the functional areas might interact. We demonstrate our methodology on two data sets - DoD and the Air Force aggregate budget data. By looking at how …