Elizabeth S. Fleming

Training Pilots for Collision Avoidance Within a Realistic Operating Context

The traffic alert and collision avoidance system has been implemented to reduce the number of midair collisions. Pilot compliance to traffic alert and collision avoidance system resolution advisories is mandated unless the pilot feels it would conflict with safety. Thus, pilots’ responses hinge on their assessment of the situation during the time period leading up to and spanning a traffic alert and collision avoidance system resolution advisory, including assessment of cues that conflict with traffic alert and collision avoidance system guidance. However, current training programs generally do not incorporate a realistic operating context and represent traffic alert and collision avoidance system advisories as isolated events. Furthermore, in the presence of conflicting traffic alert and collision avoidance system guidance and traffic information, pilots have reported confusion about what traffic alert and collision avoidance system advised, as well as disagreement with and noncompliance to resolution ad...

TCAS traffic display redesign

The Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is designed to reduce the number of mid-air collisions. TCAS monitors the nearby airspace for other aircraft which are shown to the pilot on a traffic situation display (TSD). In addition, TCAS alerts the pilot to the presence of nearby aircraft with a precautionary Traffic Advisory (TA). If separation continues to degrade, TCAS then provides a Resolution Advisory (RA) which will audibly and visually instruct the pilot to make a vertical avoidance maneuver. However, pilots do not always comply with the RA. Changing the TSD could help improve pilot compliance. During an RA, the pilot is asked to maneuver vertically, but the TSD provides a top-down horizontal view which does not project the flight-path of other traffic and does not show if the other traffic is also receiving an RA. This project performed a literature review, a work domain analysis, and pilot interviews to inform design changes. The design methods echoed a need to provide pilots with better altitude information during traffic events along with a better picture of traffic heading and velocity. From these results, a new display was designed and is described using an animation. Future work includes evaluation of the new display as part of an iterative design process.

Pilot’s Information Use During TCAS Events, and Relationship to Compliance to TCAS Resolution Advisories

The Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is intended to serve as a backup, redundant system that alerts and advises the pilot when all other methods of aircraft separation assurance fail. A flight simulator experiment examined pilot responses to TCAS advisories in a full air traffic environment. This paper discusses two analyses of the pilots’ use of information within their environment. The first analysis examined air traffic communications manipulated according to four conditions: traffic call-outs, instructions conflicting with the TCAS advised avoidance maneuver, the ability to over-hear relevant party-line information, and no relevant communications. The second analysis used data from an eye tracker to identify when the pilot examined the traffic situation display provided by TCAS. These patterns of information use are then compared with pilot compliance to the Resolution Advisories provided by TCAS.

Pilot compliance to TCAS Resolution Advisories

This paper summarizes insights into pilot compliance to Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Resolution Advisories (RAs), as gained in a series of experiments in an integrated air traffic-flight simulator with airline pilots. The simulator had a full implementation of TCAS, and the aircrafts path was controlled by an air traffic controller as part of a busy traffic stream arriving into Dallas-Fort Worth. The pilots were urged to apply their best judgment to resolve traffic events. The experiments varied Air Traffic Control (ATC) communications, including traffic call-outs and instructions that directly conflicted with TCAS advisories.-Additionally, the experiments varied traffic events by both relative trajectory (including events during approach intercept and with noncontrolled Visual Flight Regulation traffic passing 500 feet below) and a range of resolution advisory types (including preventive, corrective, and crossing-corrective RAs). The compliance of the pilots is detailed here, including examination of aspects of pilot responses to RAs that caused non-compliance. Further, the impact of several interventions - auto-execution, pilot training, and displays - will be compared for its impact on pilot compliance.

SRK as a framework for the development of training for effective interaction with multi-level automation

This paper examines the development of training for effective interaction with multi-level automation, i.e., a system that switches between functions and roles corresponding to different levels of automation. These interactions need to span not only the nominal procedures and skills expected of the operator, but also effective reasoning about when and whether the automation should be employed. This suggests framing the operator’s tasks using Rasmussen’s classical categorization of human behavior as skill based, rule based, or knowledge based (SRK), thereby providing appropriate insights into appropriate training objectives and methods. This paper uses the aircraft traffic alert and collision avoidance system as a case study, demonstrating the application of the SRK framework to develop pilot training. Comparison of pilot behavior with and without this modified training highlights the training’s ability to improve interaction with the automation, leading to recommendations for broader application of the SRK framework in training development.

Viewing an Interdisciplinary Human-Centered Design Course as a Multiteam System: Perspectives on Cooperation and Information Sharing

Many design projects, including human-centered design (HCD) projects, incorporate multiple teams cooperating within what is referred to as a Multiteam System (MTS) environment. These teams mutually rely on resources and processes provided by other teams. As an MTS increases in complexity, knowledge is distributed to more individuals. While effectively distributed knowledge increases creativity and productivity, it is also can hinder team effectiveness. Team members may fail to exchange relevant information or to integrate pertinent information into reasoning for design decisions. Our research addresses information sharing among teams and individuals in HCD by examining interactions between and within the MTS (i.e., instructional team, novice designer or student team, and stakeholder team) in an interdisciplinary design course. Specifically, we used a thematic analysis of design reviews to investigate the influence of information requests toward the quality of the information exchanged, the influence of meeting structure and flow on design team interactions and meeting outcomes, and the influence of information sharing on cooperation within the HCD process. The findings align with previous studies about information sharing in a MTS and also contribute to a broad understanding of how an integrated interpretation of information sharing can influence a cooperative design process, such as HCD. Our analysis also suggests that designers must promote a cooperative decision-making process by eliciting open and unique information relevant to the design goals. Finally, design educators can support the development of novice engineers by improving their understanding of how to elicit information from, and share information, with other teams and stakeholders.

Examining an Improved Pilot Training Program for TCAS

This paper discusses the development and evaluation of a training program intended to train pilots to understand Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) use for collision avoidance in the actual traffic and operational environment. The training program was developed using the integration of two training methods: Demonstration Based Training and Event Based Training. The impact of the training program was evaluated by comparing of two experiments examining pilot response to TCAS advisories in an aircraft simulator that incorporated the full context of an air traffic environment. Pilot participants were initially trained using the improved training program, and their performance was compared to the performance of baseline pilots who did not complete the training program. An analysis of pilot responses showed that overall the training program had a significant impact on the pilots’ behavior and response to TCAS advisories.