Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Human Performance Modelling For Accident Risk Assessment Of Active Runway Crossing Operation, Sybert H. Stroeve, Henk A.P. Blom

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

A human performance modelling approach is presented for risk assessment of operations with multiple, dynamically interacting agents. The approach is illustrated for a risk model of runway incursion on an active departure runway. This model-based approach can provide detailed, systematically derived results on risk contributions of human operators and technical systems in complex multi-agent environments.

An Intelligent Aircraft Landing Support Paradigm, Steve Thatcher, Lakhmi Jain, Colin Fyfe

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

In this paper we discuss the problems associated with a small remnant of seemingly non eradicable accidents in contemporary aircraft landings and propose three autonomous agents whose task it is to jointly monitor the aircraft and its flight crew. Two of these agents will monitor the path of the aircraft, one armed with prior knowledge of how planes tend to land at a particular airport, the other with the ability to extrapolate forward from the plane’s current position in order to identify potential dangers. The third agent will monitor the flight crew’s behavior for potentially dangerous actions or inactions. These …

Effects Of Cdti Display Dimensionality And Conflict Geometry On Conflict Resolution Performance, Lisa C. Thomas, Christopher D. Wickens

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

With the presence of a CDTI that provides graphical airspace information, pilots can use a variety of conflict resolution maneuvers in response to how they perceive the configuration of the conflict. However, across previous studies on conflict resolution using CDTIs, there has been little apparent consistency in maneuver safety, flight axis preferences (lateral or vertical), or turning direction within a flight axis. These inconsistencies may be due to a limited range of conflict geometries and/or display frames of reference. This article describes a study that incorporates three displays with different frames of reference and a wide range of conflict geometries …

“Meaningful Physics” Or Finding A System Description Suitable For Ecological Interface Design, M.M. (Rene) Van Paassen, Max Mulder, Stijn B.J. Van Dam

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Ecological Interface Design (EID) is a design paradigm that addresses the cognitive interaction between users and systems. EID’s original application domain is the field of process technology. However, in several studies the techniques outlined for EID are applied to other domains. In the development of EID interfaces for two different tasks involving control of the locomotion of an aircraft, the authors experienced a gap between the stages of cognitive work analysis (CWA) and the actual design of the interfaces. This paper analyses the approach in the two projects, generalizing the findings in creation of a proper representation with the Abstraction …

Disorientation In Vfr Pilots: Flight Performance And Psychophysiological Changes During A Flight Simulator Training, Karin Tropper, K. Wolfgang Kallus

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Disorientation due to flying into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is a major safety hazard for VFR pilots (VFR: visual flight rules) as confirmed by aviation accident databases. The objectives of our research are the development and evaluation of systematic training programs to cope with different kinds of disorientation phenomena and the analysis of the psychophysiological processes during dis- and reorientation. A study was conducted using the multi-axial moveable flight simulator DISO (AMST Systemtechnik GmbH, Austria). 25 pilots were randomly allocated to one of three testing groups (one control- and two experimental training groups). The flight performance data confirm that participants …

Facial Temperature As A Measure Of Mental Workload, Hans J.A. Veltman, Wouter W.K. Vos

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

We conducted an experiment to explore the relation between facial temperature and mental effort. Participants had to perform mentally demanding tasks while their face was captured with an infrared camera. The temperature of the nose decreased during these tasks and increased during the successive rest periods. Other parts of the face did not change due to mental effort. The advantage of this workload measure is that it can provide objective and real-time information about mental effort of operators without attaching sensors to an operator. This measure can be used to measure the workload of operators in relatively stable environmental conditions …

Eid Of A Pilot Support System For Airborne Separation Assurance, Stijn B.J. Van Dam, An L.M. Abeloos, Max Mulder, René M.M. Van Paassen

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

In a flexible airspace environment the pilot disposes of an increased amount of travel opportunities. At the same time the airspace traffic situation becomes more complex and the aircraft separation assurance task is shifted towards the cockpit. The design paradigm of Ecological Interface Design is applied to support the pilot with the airborne planning of efficient trajectory paths that maintain spatial separation from other traffic. The desired pilot behavior is achieved by visualizing travel-relevant airspace affordances in terms of realistic aircraft locomotion. As a result, a novel interface the ”state vector envelope” presents safe and efficient travel opportunities in a …

Analysis Of Advanced Airspace Concept Operations Using Human Performance Modeling, Savita A. Verma, Kevin M. Corker

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The Advanced Airspace Concept (Erzberger, 2001) proposes to achieve increased capacity in both en route and terminal areas through the use of technologies that include air-ground datalink, automation generating 4-D trajectories, and an independent back-up system, intended to provide safe transition whenever there is a malfunction. An analysis of the concept’s operations was performed using the human performance model Air Man Machine Integrated Design Analysis System (Air MIDAS) (Corker, 2000). For this research, three types of operations were modeled for an Air Traffic Control (ATC) agent – current operations, Automated Airspace Concept (AAC) operations, and Tactical Separation Assisted Flight Environment …

Organizational Factors In Commercial Aviation Accidents 1990-2000, Terry L. Von Thaden, Douglas A. Wiegmann, Scott A. Shappell

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Recently several major transportation accidents have brought significant attention to the role of organizational factors in supporting safety within high-risk critical systems. However, little is essentially known about the types of organizational factors that contribute to these accidents, as there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of these factors. This paper elaborates on the types of organizational factors that have contributed to pilot-error related aviation accidents in U.S. commercial aviation. Specifically, we analyzed 60 accidents with organizational cause factors from 1990-2000. Results from this analysis indicate that the type and frequency of organizational factors that contribute to accidents varies …

Distributed Information Behavior Among Flight Crews In A Simulated Environment, Terry L. Von Thaden Phd

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The purpose of this study was to assess concepts from Information Science to develop and initially validate a framework to study the information behavior of flight crews in the civil aviation domain. Distributed use of information within groups remains a weak link between actual information, the meaning given to information, and the sense made of the information. Principles from information science, psychology, and communication studies are used to analyze how flight crews in a simulated environment (fail to) make use of essential, safety critical information through analysis of the corresponding flight transcripts using a six-point Information Behavior Grid. The results …

Supporting Pilots In Recovering Trajectories With Tunnel-In-The-Sky Displays, Ernst J.G. Verschragen, Max Mulder, M.M. (René) Van Paassen

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Tunnel-in-the-sky displays have shown great potential for reducing pilot workload and navigation error. Although it is a well-evaluated concept, only little research has been conducted on situations in which the pilot has (deliberately or not) flown outside of the tunnel. This paper describes the experimental evaluation of various alternatives to support pilots in recapturing their nominal trajectory. The concepts studied include the use of guiding arrows, path deviation indicators, a symbol representing the tunnel and a “return tunnel”. Results from a pilot-in-the-loop experiment indicate that a “return tunnel” performed best on situation awareness and workload aspects and that most pilots …

Attentional Tunneling And Task Management, Christopher D. Wickens

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

This paper discusses attentional tunneling as one cause of breakdowns in task management. The phenomenon is defined, and empirical evidence is then reviewed to show the conditions in which the phenomenon is created by head up display location, compelling 3D displays, fault management, and automation induced complacency. Statistical and methodological issues are reviewed regarding the generalization of the phenomenon in the laboratory to real world mishaps

A Summary Of Unmanned Aircraft Accident/Incident Data: Human Factors Implications, Kevin W. Williams Ph.D.

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

A review and analysis of unmanned aircraft (UA) accident data was conducted to identify important human factors issues related to their use. UA accident data were collected from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. The percentage of involvement of human factors issues varied across aircraft from 21% to 68%. For most of the aircraft systems, electromechanical failure was more of a causal factor than human error. One critical finding from an analysis of the data is that each of the fielded systems is very different, leading to different kinds of accidents and different human factors issues. A second finding …

Pilot Dependence On Imperfect Diagnostic Automation In Simulated Uav Flights: An Attentional Visual Scanning Analysis., Christopher Wickens, Stephen Dixon, Juliana Goh, Ben Hammer

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

An unmanned air vehicle (UAV) simulation was designed to reveal the effects of imperfectly reliable diagnostic automation – a monitor of system health parameters – on pilot attention, as the latter was assessed via visual scanning. Four groups of participants flew a series of legs under different automation conditions: a baseline (no automation) control, and automation which was either 100% reliable, 60% reliable with a low-threshold bias to produce false alerts, and 60% reliable with a high threshold to produce misses. A high workload mission completion task and ground surveillance task were simultaneously imposed. Consistent with the reliance-compliance model of …

Why’D They Do That? Analyzing Pilot Mindset In Accidents And Incidents, Ed Wischmeyer Ph.D.

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

In teaching a series of classes that analyzed “classical” airline accidents, it was observed that human behavior in such accidents was often understood better when the “mindset” of the protagonists was studied explicitly, rather than implicitly, and that the time element was also useful in such analyses. Often pilots took actions not explainable by traditional error models, and not predictable from known influences. These observations started a series of iterations that eventually converged on the PEEMBO model (Predispositions, Environment, Events, Mindset and mental condition, Behaviors, and missed Opportunities.) The PEEMBO model now appears mature enough for routine use in accident …

A Real-Time Automated Transcription Tool For Tactical Communications Assessment, David T. Williamson, Lt Mathew D. Purtee

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

This paper describes the development of a real-time automated transcription tool for assessing tactical communications in a DIS environment. Java-based tools were developed to capture simulated radio communications data from tactical training exercises conducted at the Warfighter Training Research Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Human Effectiveness Directorate. A representative set of audio data was handtranscribed and used as training material for a class-based statistical language model using a commercially available speech recognition system. The language model was designed to allow run-time input of callsign data to provide increased flexibility. The resulting system is a real-time automated speech-to-text transcription …

Head-Up Display Symbology For Surface Operations: Eye Tracking Analysis Of Command-Guidance Vs. Situation-Guidance Formats, John Wilson, Becky L. Hooey, David C. Foyle

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

This study investigated pilots' taxi performance and distribution of visual attention with four different head-up display (HUD) symbology formats: Command-guidance, Situation-guidance, Hybrid, and a baseline, No-route guidance. Taxi speed and centerline accuracy were highest with Hybrid and Situation-guidance whereas Commandguidance and No-guidance resulted in increased visual attention to the head-down map display and side window displays. These results are thought to be due to lack of sufficient preview information with the Command-guidance symbology. The conformal route information of the Situation-guidance and Hybrid HUD formats provided a common reference with the environment, which may have supported better distribution of attention.

Metrics Of Information Complexity For Air Traffic Control Displays, Jing Xing

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Information complexity associated with visual displays is a bottleneck that limits their use. While automation tools are designed to bring new functions to users and increase their capacities, they also creates new tasks associated with acquiring and integrating information from displays. In particular, a complex display increases information load to human operators and reduces usability. Thus the efficiency of the tool largely depends on the complexity of displayed information. To evaluate the costs and benefits of an automation system, it is important to understand how much information is shown on the display, and whether the information is too complex for …

Pilots' Conflict Detection With Imperfect Conflict Alerting System For The Cockpit Display Of Traffic Information, Xidong Xu, Christopher D. Wickens, Esa M. Rantanen

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Twenty-four pilots viewed dynamic encounters between the pilot’s “ownship” and an intruder aircraft on a 2-D simulated Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) and estimated the point and time of closest approach. A three-level alert system provided a correct categorical estimate of the projected miss distance (MD) on 83% of the trials. The remaining 17% of alerts incorrectly predicted MD. The data of these pilots were compared with a matched “baseline” pilots, who viewed identical trials without the aid of automated alerts. Roughly half the pilots depended on and benefited from this automation, and others did not. Those who benefited …

Effects Of Workload And Likelihood Information On Human Response To Alarm Signals, Ernesto A. Bustamante, James P. Bliss

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The purpose of this study was to examine how workload and likelihood information would affect participants’ responses to alarm signals while they performed a battery of tasks. As expected, participants’ overall response rates and false alarm response rates were significantly lower, and true alarm response rates were significantly higher when they used a likelihood alarm system. These results were particularly noticeable under high workload conditions. Results from this study suggest that although people may respond less often to alarm signals when they are provided with likelihood information, they will more likely respond to true signals rather than false alarms. Therefore, …

Eid For A Terrain-Aware Synthetic Vision System, Clark Borst, Marieke Suijkerbuijk, Max Mulder, Rene M.M. Van Passen

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) are likely to become an integral part of the commercial flight deck in the future. The introduction of SVS is driven by the need to increase safety, most notably to reduce Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT). Various avionics companies and research institutes have successfully developed SVS that have shown to increase the pilot’s situational awareness regarding to attitude, position and clearance relative to the terrain. To further increase the pilot’s terrain awareness, we believe that more meaningful information should be added to the synthetic view on the outside world. This can be accomplished by showing the …

Developing Pilot Skills In Crm Assessment: An Effective Tool For The Check Pilot, Jose Manuel Ponz Cantó

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The European Joint Aviation Authorities eventually opted for making the check pilot responsible for CRM skills assessment. Along the way, several options were considered; NOTECHS, a version of LOSA, or even special tests for CRM skill demonstration.

Eventually, it was decided that CRM skills should not be evaluated outside of the pilot´s flying environment (we believe quite rightly), and such skills, or behavioural markers should only be assessed during flight checks.

Thus, the problem was apparently solved. However, no provisions were made for the training of check pilots in CRM assessment, and no special training other than required in the …

Atcs Age And En Route Operational Errors: A Re-Investigation, Dana Broach

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Public Law 92-297 requires that air traffic control specialists (ATCSs), hired on or after May 16, 1972, retire at age 56. This law is based on testimony given in 1971 that as controllers aged, the cumulative effects of stress, fatigue (from shift work), and age-related cognitive changes created a safety risk (U.S. House of Representatives, 1971). The hypothesis has been considered in two studies of en route operational errors (OEs) with contradictory results (Center for Naval Analyses Corporation (CNAC), 1995; Broach, 1999). The purpose of this re-investigation was to test the hypothesis that controller age, controlling for experience, was related …

Speech Errors Management In Air Traffic Control Communications: A Detailed Study, Jean-Leon Bouraoui, Nadine Vigouroux

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Many studies have reported on some human factors influencing the communication process, especially in aeronautical framework (see Davison (2003) for example). When spoken, communication comprises three different components: production, perception and understanding. The communication is often disturbed by one or many errors that affect one or several of these components. Consequently, one way to make air traffic control (ATC) communications more efficient and robust is to have as much knowledge as possible on these problems and their usual management. This paper presents the interests brought by corpus-based studies to Air Traffic Control (ATC) applications, especially interactions/communication between controllers and pilots. …

Ab Initio Training In The Glass Cockpit Era: New Technology Meets New Pilots: A Preliminary Descriptive Analysis, Paul A. Craig, John E. Bertrand, Wayne Dornan, Steve Gossett

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The Aerospace Department at Middle Tennessee State University and the NASA Langley Research Center entered into a cooperative agreement in 2003. The project is named the SATS Aerospace Flight Education Research (SAFER) and is part of NASA’s Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) initiative. The SATS project envisions a future flight environment that employs small aircraft to transport people and cargo from point to point using smaller, under utilized airports instead of major gridlocked airports. The aircraft used in the SATS vision would take advantage of a range of emerging technologies including glass cockpits, new structures, and new engines. But with …

Cognitive Tunneling, Aircraft-Pilot Coupling Design Issues And Scenario Interpretation Under Stress In Recent Airline Accidents, Meredith A. Bell, Eugenio L. Facci, Razia V. Nayeem

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

By building upon a number of accident reports and on cognitive psychology literature, this paper addresses the effect of stress on the reasoning abilities and on the perceptual processes of pilots. We examine several cases, including American Airlines 587 (New York, 2001), United Airlines 173 (Portland, 1978), KLM 4508 (Tenerife, 1977), Northwest Airlines 6231(Thiells NY, 1974), and Eastern Airlines 401 (Everglades, 1972), in which pilots have, or may have, contributed to an accident by incorrectly interpreting the unfolding scenario, and specifically by disregarding alternative interpretations of the unfolding scenario. While current research efforts have yet to provide guidance on how …

Line Pilot Performance Of Memory Items, Howard Au

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

An evaluation of Boeing 737 line pilot performance of memory items in 5 abnormal checklists was performed in a single-blind experiment using tabletop exercises at the crew base of a major U.S. airline. A study of 16 pilots shows that performance of memory items results in errors in identifying the failure, selecting the proper checklist to be completed, and checklist step errors.

The Identification Of Training Needs For Developing Aeronautical Decision Making Training Programs For Military Pilots, Wen-Chin Li, Don Harris, Chung-San Yu

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

This research applies Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS; Wiegmann & Shappell, 2003) analyzing aviation accidents in the R.O.C. Air Force between 1978 and 2002 in order to identify the training needs of aeronautical decision-making (ADM). There were 523 accidents associated with 1762 human errors. The results indicated that decision errors had been involved in 223 (42.6%) accidents. Without in-depth analysis of decision errors in military aviation, it is unlikely to identify precisely the training needs of ADM and the nature of the training content required to prevent the decision errors in aviation (Patrick, 2003). This research found that …

Measurement Of Situation Awareness Effects Of Adaptive Automation Of Air Traffic Control Information Processing Functions, Carlene M. Perry, Noa Segall, David B. Kaber

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The goal of this research was to define a measure of situation awareness (SA) in an air traffic control (ATC) task and to investigate the effect of adaptive automation (AA) of various information processing functions on SA. An ATC simulation was used that was capable of presenting four different modes of control, including information acquisition, information analysis, decision making and action implementation automation, and a manual mode. Eight subjects completed two trials under each mode of control. Operator workload, assessed using a secondary task, was used to trigger automation of the primary ATC task. The SA measure was an adaptation …

Cognitive Systems Engineering Approach To Shared Situation Awareness For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Matthijs Amelink, Max Mulder, Rene Van Paassen, John Flach

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Integration of UAVs with Air Traffic Control (ATC) is a world wide problem. ATC is already troubled by capacity problems due to a vast amount of air traffic. In the future when large numbers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will participate in the same airspace, the situation cannot afford to have UAVs that need special attention. Regulations for UAV flights in civil airspace are still being developed but it is expected that authorities will require UAVs to operate “like manned aircraft”. The implication is that UAVs need to become full participants of a complex socio-technical environment and need to generate …