Crew coordination in the context of aviation is a specifically choreographed set of tasks performed by each pilot, defined for each phase of flight. Based on the constructs of effective Crew Resource Management and SOPs for each phase of flight, a shared understanding of crew workload and task responsibility is considered representative of well-coordinated crews. Nominal behavior is therefore defined by SOPs and CRM theory, detectable through pilot eye-scan. This research investigates the relationship between the eye-scan exhibited by each pilot and the level of coordination between crewmembers. Crew coordination was evaluated based on each pilot's understanding of the other crewmember's workload. By contrasting each pilot's workload-understanding, crew coordination was measured as the summed absolute difference of each pilot's understanding of the other crewmember's reported workload, resulting in a crew coordination index. The crew coordination index rates crew coordination on a scale ranging across Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor. Eye-scan behavior metrics were found to reliably identify a reduction in crew coordination. Additionally, crew coordination was successfully characterized by eye-scan behavior data using machine learning classification methods. Identifying eye-scan behaviors on the flight deck indicative of reduced crew coordination can be used to inform training programs and design enhanced avionics that improve the overall coordination between the crewmembers and the flight deck interface. Additionally, characterization of crew coordination can be used to develop methods to increase shared situation awareness and crew coordination to reduce operational and flight technical errors. Ultimately, the ability to reduce operational and flight technical errors made by pilot crews improves the safety of aviation.

There can be little doubt that Hurricane Katrina will always be remembered for the damage and devastation it caused. But it also provided the first opportunity for MAVs to be used and evaluated during Search and Rescue (SAR) as well as recovery operations. Researchers from The Center for Robot-Assisted Search And Rescue (CRASAR) made two separate deployments to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina: one during initial SAR operations and a second deployment during recovery operations 90 days later. Using data and observations from both of these deployments, this work draws four key findings about semi-autonomous Miniature UAV (MAV) operations in urban environments. These findings are intended to guide future MAV research as well as serve as a roadmap for the evolution from semi-autonomous to fully autonomous MAV capabilities. These findings are as follows: the minimum useful standoff distance from inspected structures is 2-5 m, omni-directional sensor capabilities are needed for obstacle avoidance, GPS waypoint navigation is unnecessary, and that these operations currently require three operators for one MAV.

abstract: There are significant fuel consumption consequences for non-optimal flight operations. This study is intended to analyze and highlight areas of interest that affect fuel consumption in typical flight operations. By gathering information from actual flight operators (pilots, dispatch, performance engineers, and air traffic controllers), real performance issues can be addressed and analyzed. A series of interviews were performed with various individuals in the industry and organizations. The wide range of insight directed this study to focus on FAA regulations, airline policy, the ATC system, weather, and flight planning. The goal is to highlight where operational performance differs from design intent in order to better connect optimization with actual flight operations. After further investigation and consensus from the experienced participants, the FAA regulations do not need any serious attention until newer technologies and capabilities are implemented. The ATC system is severely out of date and is one of the largest limiting factors in current flight operations. Although participants are pessimistic about its timely implementation, the FAA's NextGen program for a future National Airspace System should help improve the efficiency of flight operations. This includes situational awareness, weather monitoring, communication, information management, optimized routing, and cleaner flight profiles like Required Navigation Performance (RNP) and Continuous Descent Approach (CDA). Working off the interview results, trade-studies were performed using an in-house flight profile simulation of a Boeing 737-300, integrating NASA legacy codes EDET and NPSS with a custom written mission performance and point-performance "Skymap" calculator. From these trade-studies, it was found that certain flight conditions affect flight operations more than others. With weather, traffic, and unforeseeable risks, flight planning is still limited by its high level of precaution. From this study, it is recommended that air carriers increase focus on defining policies like load scheduling, CG management, reduction in zero fuel weight, inclusion of performance measurement systems, and adapting to the regulations to best optimize the spirit of the requirement.. As well, air carriers should create a larger drive to implement the FAA's NextGen system and move the industry into the future. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Aerospace Engineering 2014

No description available.

Esta dissertação propõe um método de análise dos eventos de aceleração dos motores e dissipação de energia através do uso dos freios aerodinâmicos na fase de descida das aeronaves Boeing 737 NG da VRG Linhas Aéreas, baseando-se nos conceitos de energia, de aproximações em descidas contínuas e desenho dos procedimentos de chegadas, revisando as bases das práticas de conservação de combustível e dos sistemas de garantia da qualidade das operações de vôo. Foram analisadas mais de 130.000 descidas em um período de nove meses, durante a operação normal da empresa, através de leitura de dados dos gravadores de vôo que resultaram, após aplicação de algoritmos matemáticos simples e filtros, em mais de 314.000 eventos isolados. Estes eventos foram tratados com uma visão estatística, permitindo a quantificação financeira dos eventos através da proporcionalidade da variação de combustível consumido e energia agregada ou dissipada da aeronave. Os resultados obtidos através do método apresentado permitiram apontar as famílias, séries e prefixos de aeronaves com diferentes desempenhos nas descidas, as cidades de destino e rotas com desempenho baixo quanto a conservação de combustível e energia, assim apontando os possíveis caminhos para a empresa focar esforços na redução do custo de combustível. / This paper proposes a method of analysis of fuel consumption and energy dissipation events, as a consequence of engines acceleration and the use of speed brakes during the Boeing 737 NG descent segment of VRG Linhas Aéreas, based on the concepts of energy, continuous descent approaches and design of arrivals procedures, reviewing the basics of fuel conservation practices and flight operations quality assurance systems.There were analyzed more than 130,000 descents in a period of nine months, during the company normal operation, by reading data from flight recorders that resulted in, after the application of simple mathematical algorithms and filters, more than 314,000 individual events. These events were treated with a statistical view, to quantify the financial impact of this events through the proportionality of the variation in fuel consumption and energy added or dissipated by the aircraft.The results obtained using this method allowed to understand families, series and tail numbers of aircrafts with different performances on the descent phase, the destination cities and routes with poor performance in energy and fuel conservation, thus indicating a possible focus to enhance efforts to reduce total fuel costs.

Esta dissertação propõe um método de análise dos eventos de aceleração dos motores e dissipação de energia através do uso dos freios aerodinâmicos na fase de descida das aeronaves Boeing 737 NG da VRG Linhas Aéreas, baseando-se nos conceitos de energia, de aproximações em descidas contínuas e desenho dos procedimentos de chegadas, revisando as bases das práticas de conservação de combustível e dos sistemas de garantia da qualidade das operações de vôo. Foram analisadas mais de 130.000 descidas em um período de nove meses, durante a operação normal da empresa, através de leitura de dados dos gravadores de vôo que resultaram, após aplicação de algoritmos matemáticos simples e filtros, em mais de 314.000 eventos isolados. Estes eventos foram tratados com uma visão estatística, permitindo a quantificação financeira dos eventos através da proporcionalidade da variação de combustível consumido e energia agregada ou dissipada da aeronave. Os resultados obtidos através do método apresentado permitiram apontar as famílias, séries e prefixos de aeronaves com diferentes desempenhos nas descidas, as cidades de destino e rotas com desempenho baixo quanto a conservação de combustível e energia, assim apontando os possíveis caminhos para a empresa focar esforços na redução do custo de combustível. / This paper proposes a method of analysis of fuel consumption and energy dissipation events, as a consequence of engines acceleration and the use of speed brakes during the Boeing 737 NG descent segment of VRG Linhas Aéreas, based on the concepts of energy, continuous descent approaches and design of arrivals procedures, reviewing the basics of fuel conservation practices and flight operations quality assurance systems.There were analyzed more than 130,000 descents in a period of nine months, during the company normal operation, by reading data from flight recorders that resulted in, after the application of simple mathematical algorithms and filters, more than 314,000 individual events. These events were treated with a statistical view, to quantify the financial impact of this events through the proportionality of the variation in fuel consumption and energy added or dissipated by the aircraft.The results obtained using this method allowed to understand families, series and tail numbers of aircrafts with different performances on the descent phase, the destination cities and routes with poor performance in energy and fuel conservation, thus indicating a possible focus to enhance efforts to reduce total fuel costs.

Esta dissertação propõe um método de análise dos eventos de aceleração dos motores e dissipação de energia através do uso dos freios aerodinâmicos na fase de descida das aeronaves Boeing 737 NG da VRG Linhas Aéreas, baseando-se nos conceitos de energia, de aproximações em descidas contínuas e desenho dos procedimentos de chegadas, revisando as bases das práticas de conservação de combustível e dos sistemas de garantia da qualidade das operações de vôo. Foram analisadas mais de 130.000 descidas em um período de nove meses, durante a operação normal da empresa, através de leitura de dados dos gravadores de vôo que resultaram, após aplicação de algoritmos matemáticos simples e filtros, em mais de 314.000 eventos isolados. Estes eventos foram tratados com uma visão estatística, permitindo a quantificação financeira dos eventos através da proporcionalidade da variação de combustível consumido e energia agregada ou dissipada da aeronave. Os resultados obtidos através do método apresentado permitiram apontar as famílias, séries e prefixos de aeronaves com diferentes desempenhos nas descidas, as cidades de destino e rotas com desempenho baixo quanto a conservação de combustível e energia, assim apontando os possíveis caminhos para a empresa focar esforços na redução do custo de combustível. / This paper proposes a method of analysis of fuel consumption and energy dissipation events, as a consequence of engines acceleration and the use of speed brakes during the Boeing 737 NG descent segment of VRG Linhas Aéreas, based on the concepts of energy, continuous descent approaches and design of arrivals procedures, reviewing the basics of fuel conservation practices and flight operations quality assurance systems.There were analyzed more than 130,000 descents in a period of nine months, during the company normal operation, by reading data from flight recorders that resulted in, after the application of simple mathematical algorithms and filters, more than 314,000 individual events. These events were treated with a statistical view, to quantify the financial impact of this events through the proportionality of the variation in fuel consumption and energy added or dissipated by the aircraft.The results obtained using this method allowed to understand families, series and tail numbers of aircrafts with different performances on the descent phase, the destination cities and routes with poor performance in energy and fuel conservation, thus indicating a possible focus to enhance efforts to reduce total fuel costs.

Optimization of flight operations is a way to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment and make the use of airspace more effective. Reductions in fuel consumption and flight time are further desired by airlines to minimize operational costs. The flight planning tools of today optimize the vertical profile with the knowledge of wind conditions at different altitudes. Cost optimal speeds are however currently selected by the aircraft computer itself. Because this selection is performed locally and with limited data, e.g., weather, there is reason to believe speeds could be further optimized for an overall lower cost. This work presents a model constructed to optimize speeds through the implementation of modified cost indices along the cruise phase of a flight for minimized cost including fuel and time consumption. First, the effects of different parameters on the economical speed chosen by the aircraft are presented. A brute force approach is then used to establish optimal cost index selection when all possible paths are evaluated. From this, a speed optimizing dynamic programming model is constructed to find optimized cost index paths. Results of the model show reductions in flight costs, presented as either a fuel or a time reduction. Conclusions are derived from the test results to suggest improvements of the model and the next steps for aircraft flight speed optimization. / Optimering av flygverksamhet är ett sätt att minska påverkan av flygindustrin på miljön och effektivisera användandet av luftrummet. Minskningar av bränsleförbrukning och flygtid är vidare efterfrågat av flygbolag för minimering av flygverksamhetskostnader. Dagens planeringsverktyg optimerar den vertikala flygprofilen med information om vindförhållanden på olika altituder. Kostoptimala hastigheter väljs däremot av flygmaskinen själv i nuläget. I och med att dessa val utförs lokalt och med begränsad information, bland annat om väder, finns det anledning att ana att hastigheter kan optimeras ytterligare för att sänka helhetskostnader. Detta arbete presenterar en modell skapad för att finna optimerade hastigheter som implementeras med modifierade kostindex längs sträckflygningsfasen av en flygning för minimerad kostnad inkluderande bränsle- och tidkonsumption. Först presenteras effekten av olika parametrar på den ekonomiska hastigheten vald av flygdatorn. En brute force-metod används sedan för att fastställa den optimala kostindex banan då samtliga möjliga vägar utvärderas. Utifrån detta skapas en dynamisk programmeringsmodell för hastighetsoptimering för att finna en optimal kostindex bana. Resultat från modellen visar minskade flygkostnader i form av antingen bränsle- eller tidsbesparingar. Slutsatser dras utifrån testresultaten för att föreslå förbättringar av modellen och nästa steg för optimering av hastighet för flygplan.

This paper addresses the issue of security and integration of UAVs in air traffic operations and analyses possible risks. This work defines methodology to demonstrate airworthiness of the parachute recovery system under extreme climatic conditions. The first part of the methodology deals with the compliance performance requirements in external environment and the second part verifies performance parachute canopy. Methodology developed herein is subsequently verified by practical tests on parachute recovery system Galaxy GBS 10.