Barbara K. Burian

Certified Flight Instructor Weather Training: Perspectives and Practices

Although weather-related accidents in general aviation continue to claim many lives every year, what pilots are taught about weather during their earliest training is largely unknown. Certified flight instructors were surveyed regarding the weather training they provide to primary student pilots. Participants typically report spending 10 to 12 hr on weather instruction with their primary students. Instrument instructors (CFIIs) report placing significantly greater emphasis on 17 of 34 weather topics when instructing primary student pilots than instructors who are only rated to instruct primary student pilots (CFIs). Similarly, participants who instruct under FAR Part 141 or in academic settings state that they place significantly more emphasis on almost all of the weather topics than those participants who only instruct under FAR Part 61. Generally, all participants report that their own mastery of weather content is significantly better than the quality of the instruction they provide on that content to primary student pilots. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Urban Air Mobility Airspace Integration Concepts and Considerations [STUB]

Urban Air Mobility—defined as safe and efficient air traffic operations in a metropolitan area for manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems—is being researched and developed by industry, academia, and government. Significant resources have been invested toward cultivating an ecosystem for Urban Air Mobility that includes manufacturers of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, builders of takeoff and landing areas, and researchers of the airspace integration concepts, technologies, and procedures needed to conduct Urban Air Mobility operations safely and efficiently alongside other airspace users. This paper provides high-level descriptions of both emergent and early expanded operational concepts for Urban Air Mobility that NASA is developing. The scope of this work is defined in terms of missions, aircraft, airspace, and hazards. Past and current Urban Air Mobility operations are also reviewed, and the considerations for the data exchange architecture and communication, navigation, and surveillance requirements are also discussed. This paper will serve as a starting point to develop a framework for NASA’s Urban Air Mobility airspace integration research and development efforts with partners and stakeholders that could include fast-time simulations, human-in-the-loop simulations, and flight demonstrations.

Enhancing NextGen RNAV Capabilities: Human Performance Evaluation of NRS Waypoint Nomenclatures

As part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) initiative, a redevelopment of the high-altitude airspace is underway to realize the benefits of area navigation (RNAV) capabilities. Three nomenclatures were evaluated as possible alternatives to the current waypoint nomenclature used in the Navigation Reference System (NRS). A part-task study was conducted to assess if speed of NRS waypoint location on an en route chart, speed of flight management system (FMS) entry, number of FMS entry errors, and NRS waypoint reroute use were different among the nomenclatures tested. Overall preference was also assessed.

Designing Realistic, Full-Mission, Human-in-the-Loop Aviation Simulation Studies: Lessons Learned

The design of simulator based research can be an intimidating task for even an experienced researcher. We present some of the lessons learned from a complex simulator-based research study requiring sophisticated flight scenarios with realistic environmental conditions that was designed and conducted by a large group of researchers distributed across multiple sites. We offer readers both suggestions for approach to design as well as solutions to some of the problems we encountered.