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Purpose: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with remote and/or automated flight and mission controls have replaced airplanes with pilots in many important roles. This study aims to deal with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and development of the aerodynamic configuration of a multi-purpose UAV for low and medium altitudes. The main aerodynamic requirement was the application of the tandem wing (TW) concept, where both wings generate a positive lift and act as primary lifting devices. Design/methodology/approach: Initial design analyses of the UAV's aerodynamic configuration were performed using ANSYS Fluent. In previous work in Fluent, the authors established a calculation model that has been verified by experiments and, with minor adjustments, could be applied for subsonic, transonic and supersonic flow analyses. Findings: The design evolved through eight development configurations, where the latest V8 satisfied all the posted longitudinal aerodynamic requirements. Both wings generate a substantial amount of positive lift, whereas the initial stall occurs first on the front wing, generating a natural nose-down stall recovery tendency. In the cruising flight regime, this configuration has the desired range of longitudinal static stability and its centre of pressure is in close proximity to the centre of gravity. Practical implications: The intermediate development version V8 with proper longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics presents a good starting point for future development steps that will involve the optimization of lateral-directional aerodynamics. Originality/value: Using contemporary CFD tools, a novel and original TW aerodynamic configuration have evolved within eight development stages, not being based on or derived from any existing designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Updates to the military rotorcraft handling qualities specification are currently being considered that address the highspeed flight regime envisioned for the Future Vertical Lift platform of the U.S. Army. A team that features industry and academia has developed and evaluated a set of mission task elements (MTEs) that are defined to address vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) high-speed handling qualities. Following the mission-oriented approach upon which ADS-33E-PRF is based, the MTEs were designed to meet different levels of precision and aggressiveness. Tracking MTEs based on a sum-of-sines (SOS) command signal were defined for precision, aggressive, and precision, nonaggressive applications. The command signals were derived from fixed-wing analogs that have long been used to evaluate aircraft handling qualities. While the precision, aggressive SOS tracking tasks, the primary subject of this paper, are surrogates for air-to-air tracking and nap-of-the-earth tracking, the known forcing function allows for complete open- and closed-loop pilot--vehicle system identification. The MTE objectives, descriptions, and performance criteria were assessed and refined via several checkout piloted simulation sessions. Formal evaluations were then conducted by Army test pilots at four simulator facilities, each featuring a unique high-speed platform including a generic winged-compound helicopter, two tiltrotor configurations, and a compound helicopter with coaxial rotors. To aid in theMTE evaluation process, baseline VTOL configurations were varied to achieve different handling qualities levels. Quantitative measures based on task performance and qualitative measures based on pilot ratings, comments, and debrief questionnaires were used to assess MTE effectiveness. The piloted simulation results demonstrated that the SOS tracking MTEs provided an effective means to discern precision, aggressive handling qualities in high-speed flight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flight training is a complex and responsible training process for pilot and requires experienced specialists, good organization and quality control of flight activity. Its main purpose is to create highly qualified personnel with long-term professional skills in the techniques of piloting, aircraft flying and the combat use of aircraft. Assessment is an important part of the training process for young cadets. It determines the extent to which trainees have been able to perceive, learn and comprehend their new flying activity and their ability to apply the acquired knowledge in tense conditions. Assessment is directly related to the quality of the flight training, and the it should show the trainees the mistakes they have made and encourage them to upgrade their knowledge and skills. The trainees should be well versed in the assessment methodology and understand its purpose, otherwise the grades obtained will not be an indicator of their ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to present the analysis of introduction of single engine turbo-prop aeroplane class in terms of certification specifications and flight crew licensing regulations.Design/methodology/approach Following the results of flight testing and additional performance and sizing calculations, the proposed class was placed among the existing aeroplane taxonomy in terms of performance, flight loads, mass penalty, fuel economy and several other factors. Concerning small air transport initiative, the new class was tried to be placed as a starting point in commercial pilot career.Findings The paper points the potential market for single engine turbopropeller aeroplanes and lists today obstacles in wider introduction. Therefore, remarks about required change of regulations and requirements for design process, as well as for crew licensing, are underlined.Practical implications The results of the study would be helpful in preliminary design of a new low-power turboprop aeroplane, as well as during tailoring the certification specifications.Originality/value The approach presented in this paper is a detailed extension of an original idea presented by author for the first time during Clean Sky/small air transport workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Machine Learning methods predict the mass and speed intent of climbing aircraft. • The methods learn from millions of climbing segments from all over the world. • Knowing past points the accuracy on the altitude is improved by 48% on average. • The data set and the Machine Learning code are publicly available. Abstract Ground-based aircraft trajectory prediction is a major concern in air traffic control and management. A safe and efficient prediction is a prerequisite to the implementation of new automated tools. In current operations, trajectory prediction is computed using a physical model. It models the forces acting on the aircraft to predict the successive points of the future trajectory. Using such a model requires knowledge of the aircraft state (mass) and aircraft intent (thrust law, speed intent). Most of this information is not available to ground-based systems. This paper focuses on the climb phase. We improve the trajectory prediction accuracy by predicting some of the unknown point-mass model parameters. These unknown parameters are the mass and the speed intent. This study relies on ADS-B data coming from The OpenSky Network. It contains the climbing segments of the year 2017 detected by this sensor network. The 11 most frequent aircraft types are studied. The obtained data set contains millions of climbing segments from all over the world. The climbing segments are not filtered according to their altitude. Predictive models returning the missing parameters are learned from this data set, using a Machine Learning method. The trained models are tested on the two last months of the year and compared with a baseline method (BADA used with the mean parameters computed on the first ten months). Compared with this baseline, the Machine Learning approach reduce the RMSE on the altitude by 48% on average on a 10 min horizon prediction. The RMSE on the speed is reduced by 25% on average. The trajectory prediction is also improved for small climbing segments. Using only information available before the considered aircraft take-off, the Machine Learning method can predict the unknown parameters, reducing the RMSE on the altitude by 25% on average. The data set and the Machine Learning code are publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In short, we must value critical thinking as a core combat capability and measure it. It requires the same degree of training, monitoring, and validation that flying qualification demands. The Air Force would never allow a nonqualified aviator to pilot an aircraft. The risk to individual life and equipment is too great. Similarly, we must ask, why would we be less stringent about larger situations of uncertainty that could introduce risk to thousands? In areas that demand verified critical thinking skill, why would we turn to one’s intuitive judgment that may be susceptible to unmitigated cognitive error? President John F. Kennedy once said, “Too often we. . . enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”15 As scientific studies have shown, intuitive judgment is flawed. Institutionalizing a culture of critical thinking will complement expert intuition by mitigating cognitive error and bias. In doing so, the Air Force will step toward a process that rewards true skill through measurement, accountability, feedback, and improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Takeoff and landing overruns account for most of the accidents that occur on or in the immediate vicinity of the runway, and it would cause accidental aircraft damage and loss of life. The current Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) materials are weak in water resistance and durability, expensive in acquiring and installing, and have negative environmental impacts. So it is significantly required to find a new alternative material with good mechanical properties, higher arresting coefficient and excellent environmental performance. In this article, the arresting properties of metal honeycomb material are studied. A Tire-Honeycomb material Interaction Mechanical Model (THIMM) is proposed. Combining with the dynamic model of aircraft, the theoretical model is coded by MATLAB to finish arresting simulation on aircraft B737-900ER and B727-100. In addition, finite element model of the tire-honeycomb material interaction was built to verify the correctness of the theoretical model. The results obtained by finite element simulation are in a good agreement with the theoretical results. In comparison with the results for traditional materials, the calculated results show that the honeycomb material can stop the overrunning aircraft more efficiently in the condition that the forces induced by the stopping process are safe for the passengers and aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute, 264 accidents were identified as continued visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), during the past ten years. Approximately 89% of those VFR-into-IMC accidents were fatal, causing hundreds of deaths. VFR-into-IMC has been a major concern for the general aviation community, prompting focused efforts. Research, data analyses, outreach, training, and education are recommended practices to address risks associated with VFR-into-IMC. Researchers of the current study sought to evaluate the cause and effect relationship between two training protocols and weather-related posttest scores. A pretest-posttest experimental design was utilized at two testing locations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control group, an interactive online training group, or an interactive workshop group. An analysis of covariance was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between mean posttest scores among the experimental groups while controlling for pretest scores. The treatments did not appear to significantly increase posttest scores after controlling for pretest scores, at either experiment location. Though the results of this study did not yield anticipated findings, much was learned and potentially helpful to general aviation researchers seeking to mitigate VFR-into-IMC encounters. Recommendations for future research and practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In visual flight, student pilots learn to control an aircraft by visual reference to the natural horizon and to the cockpit instruments. During real flight, they practice the processing of three-dimensional spatial information and the procedures for controlling the aircraft. Currently the simulator training for ab initio pilots is restricted to radio navigation procedures. However, the instructional potential of flight simulators could be better exploited because their use is independent of visual meteorological conditions, they are cost-effective and emission free. This study investigated the effect of combined real and simulator training on performance and skill acquisition of flight students during real flight. An evaluation study was employed with 61 ab initio flight students in a pre- and posttest design. Real flight tests were performed before and after the simulator training. Results show that trainees' flight performance in the aircraft was significantly better in post-test than in pre-test. The performance in post-test correlated significantly with performance in the simulator. These findings show that simulator training improved trainees' performance during real flight. The student pilots could generalize the skills for visual flight control across a variety of cockpit designs. The use of generic flight simulators could be extended to training basic flight skills such as the processing of three-dimensional spatial information, and the procedures to control the aircraft by reference to the natural horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide taxi capability without the use of engines or tractor, electric landing gear drive is considered as a potential system add-on. Driving torque and nose wheel steering angle controller are established which are verified by civil aircraft examples. Quasi-steady method is applied to calculate tire forces and moments. The ground steering response of aircraft is simulated, and then different taxi conditions including powered nose wheel mode and powered main wheel mode are compared. Two conclusions are obtained: Electric taxi system helps the aircraft turn on the spot and the turning radius is smaller than the aircraft using engines; differential powered main wheel mode has the minimum turning radius while turning-circle with uniform velocity, and it has smaller difference between two vertical loads of main landing gear than powered nose wheel mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to analyze pilots' visual scanning under conditions visually restricted by the occlusion paradigm. During manual flight, pilots experienced interruptions in their panel scan due to concurring tasks and monitoring of distant displays. Eleven volunteer airline pilots performed several manual instrument landing system approaches in a fixed-base flight simulator. Some of these approaches were performed using the paradigm of occlusion with shutter glasses. Under occlusion, the gaze pattern analysis revealed that pilots demonstrated reduced mean glance durations, but did not reduce their attention to lesser information displays. The results also indicated that the attitude indicator (artificial horizon) as a preview instrument was less affected by occlusion compared to other areas of interest. A subsequent scanpath analysis revealed that vertical tracking was the predominant information acquisition strategy and corresponded to larger deviations on the glideslope. These results imply the need to optimize information even for short glances, and to be very cautious with adaptive layouts of free programmable or dynamic displays, and not to overburden the pilot flying with parallel tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in technological innovation have been deployed to support autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles in many industries. A question that remains unanswered is why very little progress has been made in remote pilotage over the past 15 years. This paper draws together theories from innovation management and the high reliability organisation literatures to shed light on this question. Using a case study of two Australian ports, we examine a business case for remote pilotage demonstrating that despite positive cost benefit models, ambiguities in benefits exist throughout the ecosystem. The discussion sheds light on unique challenges that port executives face where it is necessary to simultaneously develop a strategy to: (1) manage the internal innovation process, and (2) manage the external consequences of the innovation by mobilising allies, managing opponents, and converting those who are indifferent to the innovation. The main contribution of this paper is to show that any assessment of the innovation challenge facing remote pilotage and enhanced navigational assistance requires the maritime industry to ask new questions not previously considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article examines the practical impacts of integrating simulation-based training into anab initiopilot-training course. Background: As flight simulation technology has become more advanced, and the associated costs have been reduced, there has been a corresponding increase in the use of flight simulation duringab initiophases of pilot training. Subsequently, important questions have arisen regarding the utility of simulation-based training to develop students’ rudimentary piloting skills. Method: The progression of 29 students completing a course consisting of 25% simulation is compared to a baseline sample of 62 students (sourced from historical data) completing the same course prior to the integration of additional simulation-based training. Results: The integration of simulation was found to have 2 primary impacts. Although a small decrease in aircraft training hours was evident, there was also a significant increase in the overall training time once simulation-based training was incorporated. Conclusion: Simulation will always provide significant safety and risk-reduction benefits to flight training; however, when considering the practical implications of integrating simulation-based training, the current data provide a cautionary tale that positive outcomes for training efficiency and cost-effectiveness are not always guaranteed. More targeted inquiry is still needed to assist flight schools to properly operationalize the findings from the research literature to effectively integrate simulation into their flight-training curriculums. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study was to explore how pilots potentially learn from their and others’ experience through post-flight debriefing. Through a case study of pilots who fly air ambulances, this article attempts to illustrate the importance of learning from experience (Bion 1962) among pilots in aviation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recesses in the walls of supersonic combustion chambers – cavities – have emerged as a preferred flameholding device since they are non-intrusive, hence resulting in reduced drag, lower total pressure losses and minimal aerodynamic heating when compared with other means of piloting core combustion such as, for example, struts. The flowfield within and in the vicinity of a cavity is complex involving a strong coupling between hydrodynamics and acoustics. When employed as a flameholding device both fuel injection and heat release – which is closely coupled to local mixing processes – alter the flowfield and further complicate the interaction between the cavity and the core supersonic flow. The complexity of this flowfield makes the identification of the dominant flameholding mechanisms and prediction of flame stability limits substantially more difficult than in the case of premixed systems. The following sections review the current knowledge of the mechanics of cavity-based flameholding in supersonic flows. Aspects of the non-reacting and reacting cavity flowfield are discussed with particular emphasis on the impact of fuel injection location relative to the flameholder. Results obtained to date in the attempt to describe the operability of cavity flameholders in terms of experimentally determined flame stability limits are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel flight envelope protection method is presented. The approach is based on a model predictive receding horizon formulation, which computes at each instant in time the future extremal control inputs that would lead the vehicle to ride the flight envelope boundary without ever exceeding it. The extremal inputs are then used for pilot cueing. The calculation of the extremal inputs is based on the constrained optimization of a quadratic figure of merit for a reduced-order linear parameter varying model of the vehicle. The model accounts for the cross-couplings among the inputs that characterize the flight mechanics of rotorcraft vehicles and spans the entire flight envelope of interest by piecewise linear interpolation of given trim points. The approach leads to a convex optimization problem, which can be computed very efficiently in real time using a deterministic number of operations. A heuristic modification to the limits of the critical parameters, driven by a reduced-order nonlinear model of the vehicle, is used for online solution adaptation against possible model mismatch. The new approach is demonstrated by numerical simulation of multiple complex pilot-in-the-loop aggressive maneuvers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study undertook a survey of University Aviation Association (UAA) member institutions to determine the composition of the simulation fleet available to UAA institutions. Additionally, this survey asked about the financial and cultural impacts of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) January 2, 2014 policy change that altered the creditable training conducted in Aviation Training Devices (ATDs). The survey found that there is a plethora of training devices in use by UAA member institutions and that 62% of respondents will have to change the way they conduct training, and 48% will spend more than $20,000 to bring their institutions in compliance with the policy. Furthermore, 66% of respondents expect that their students will be charged an additional $1000 or more to complete their training because of the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the research study on how air pilots response on its personal self-rate consistency in completing a test-taking performance assessment using FAA Knowledge Exam questions by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The research examines how the air pilot students has improved to enhance its performance on factors of refining study strategies, test-taking skills and knowledge on test material. The study also refers on the consistency of performance for airpilots.

Analysis of existing techniques of aircraft take-off mass estimation in the process of aviation incidents investigation was made. Aircraft take-off mass estimation technique was suggested. It uses parametric information from a flight data recorder that does not need previous parameters filtration, making an obtained estimation more effective. Effectiveness was demonstrated on specific aviation incident example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Head-up displays (HUD) become common equipment in aircraft cockpits. One of the possible and adequate to the HUD specifics visual pilot's interfaces is the “tunnel-in-the-sky” (3D structure on a flat screen). But according to the recent studies the tunnel-in-the-sky does not provide crucial advantages in comparison with traditional methods of presenting navigation information to pilots. This paper considers a stereoscopic version of the “tunnel-in-the-sky” realized as an augmented reality (AR) pocket-size system with see-through light-weight glasses. It consists of low-cost elements and is free of drawbacks that are inherent in the existing synthetic/enhanced vision systems. The design of experiments with desktop simulators of different AR pilot's interfaces (2D, 3D and stereo 3D conditions) and their results are described. The experiment results prove the effectiveness of the proposed stereo solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a method for selecting pilot candidates forab initioflight training at a North American flight training unit (FTU) serving the Chinese market. Over the past 4 years the FTU has developed and implemented a ground-school-based method of assessment and selection for Chinese candidates. The method was developed in response to the lack of reliable and affordable assessment materials available for flight training candidates whose first language was other than English. Development, implementation, and the effects of assessment on the early hours of Canadian ground school are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under certain conditions during takeoff and landing, pilots may sometimes experience vibrations in the cockpit. Because the cockpit is located right above the nose landing gear, which is known to potentially be prone to self-excited vibrations at certain velocities, an explanation for those vibrations might be oscillations of the landing gear feeding into the fuselage. However, the fuselage dynamics itself may also influence the dynamics of the landing gear, meaning that the coupling must be considered as bidirectional. A mathematical model is developed to study a coupled nose-landing-gear-fuselage system, which allows to assess the overall influence of the coupling on the system dynamics. Bifurcation analysis reveals that this interaction may be significant in both directions and that the system behavior depends strongly on the modal characteristics of the fuselage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes preliminary results of the augmentation of Global Navigation Satellite System/Inertial Navigation System positioning (GNSS/INS) by Digital Elevation Model (DEM) based on the data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and data from field survey. The prototype software is developed to refer the position of the aircraft to DEM and informs the user about the current relevant flight parameters. The number of the parameters may be arbitrarily increased, however, currently we investigate the altitude above the terrain and the aircraft position relative to the descent path and airfield. The study provides some information on the local SRTM accuracy in relation to the field survey of the airfield "Dajtki" - Aeroclub of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A serial-nonlinear model appears to predict general aviation accident rates from total pilot flight hours despite the inherently noisy nature of such data. [•] This could serve as an improved independent variable or covariate to control for flight risk during data analysis of aviation accidents. [•] Applied to FAA data, this class of models implies that GA pilots may face elevated flight risk longer than imagined before leveling off to a baseline rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pilot error remains the major cause of aircraft accidents. The lack of Situation Awareness (SA), even amongst experienced pilots, is one of the primary reasons for pilot error. It is important to ensure that pilots are able to maintain a high level of SA before they act as members of a flight crew. A pilot's SA can be assessed by monitoring pilot behavior using observations of pilot eye movement. In this paper we discuss a rule-based approach to assess novice pilots' SA against a baseline. A recent experiment confirmed there is a measurable difference between the eye movement of an experienced pilot and the eye movement of several novice pilots. Initially, an expert pilot's eye movement was recorded using an eye tracker device in order to set the baseline. A Gaze Analyzer was used to derive relevant information from eye movement data. After consulting a Subject Matter Expert (SME), a rule-based system was created to monitor the pilot's behavior. The data was analyzed to identify behavioral patterns in order to associate the pilots' level of SA with their mode of attention distribution (fixation). Novice pilot's eye movement data was compared with an expert pilot's eye movement data using an inference engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key elements to NextGen is the transition from the current ground- based radar monitoring system to a satellite-based system using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast System (ADS-B). The FAA has set a mandate which requires all aircraft to be ADS-B equipped by the year 2020 in order to continue operating in the National Airspace System. However, the FAA has not set forth any training requirements for aviation instructors or designated examiners. This study looked at how ADS-B is currently being taught among aviation educators across the United States and how important this training is to current aviation curriculum. With the information collected, it was determined that only a minimal amount of ADS-B training is currently taking place across the country, and the training that is taking place is non-standardized and limited due to the perception that ADS-B is only to be used as a traffic advisory tool. There was significant difference in the perceived importance of ADS-B, t(73) = -2.79, p < .01 between the flight instructor group and the group containing mostly professors and administrators. Also, a significant difference was found in the comparison of perceived importance and institution, t(73) = -3.11, p < .01. There was no significance found when comparing the perceived importance of ADS-B training to the number of years a respondent had worked as an aviation educator, F(1,73) = .44, p = .508 or the number of hours a respondent had received ADS-B training, F(1,60) = .15, p = .699. There was also no significant difference in the perceived importance of ADS-B training dependent upon if participants operated in a geographic location that had ADS-B coverage, t(73) = -1.88, p = .063. Several factors were discovered as to why there seems to be no current urgency among aviation educators to train their students in this new technology. In addition, recommended steps the FAA could take in order to help aviation educators with the ADS-B training process were suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]