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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Sleep during layovers of different lengths after long-haul flying across multiple time zones in different geographic directions

Introduction: Long-haul pilots experience high levels of fatigue and circadian disruption due to long work hours and trans-meridian travel. The aim of this study was to characterize sleep timing and duration during layovers of different lengths after crossing multiple time zones. Methods: All pilots flying long-haul operations from a single airline were eligible to participate. While following their normal work schedule within airline operations, pilots collected data for ~2 weeks including at least two long-haul rotations, with rest days and layovers. Participants wore an Actiwach (Phillips Respironics) throughout the entire study period and completed a sleep diary (at bedtime and upon waking up). Based on the data, we categorized layovers as follows: layover type 1: 34 h after crossing five time zones in westward direction; layover type 2: of 34 h, no time zone change; layover type 3: 55 h after crossing six time zones in eastward direction. Each flight left the home base at the same time of day (23:00) and the flight duration was between 10.5 and 12 hrs. We calculated descriptive statistics for each category. Results. Forty-four long-haul pilots participated in the study (5 female; mean age 44.25 ± 10.06 yrs; mean flight hours 9834.3 ± 5334.1 hrs). We found that for layover type 1, the mean sleep duration (h) per 24 h was 6.90 (±1.04), mean sleep efficiency (%) was 81.08 (±10.89) and mean Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO, min) was 33.23 (±20.42); for layover type 2, the mean sleep duration (h) per 24 h was 6.91 (±1.06), mean sleep efficiency (%) was 81.71 (±6.80), and mean WASO (min) was 30.10 (±11.00); for layover type 3, the mean sleep duration (h) was 7.07 (±1.32), mean sleep efficiency (%) was 83.93 (±6.04), and mean WAS (min) was 36.94 (±17.95). Conclusion: Our preliminary analyses showed that sleep duration and sleep efficiency were similar for the layovers of same length regardless time zone change. Additional analyses will be conducted to investigate sleep on additional layovers of different lengths and the effects of sleep obtained during layover on the performance and alertness on the return flights.

long-haul↗

NASA NTRS1975

Operational flight evaluation of the two-segment approach for use in airline service

United Airlines has developed and evaluated a two-segment noise abatement approach procedure for use on Boeing 727 aircraft in air carrier service. In a flight simulator, the two-segment approach was studied in detail and a profile and procedures were developed. Equipment adaptable to contemporary avionics and navigation systems was designed and manufactured by Collins Radio Company and was installed and evaluated in B-727-200 aircraft. The equipment, profile, and procedures were evaluated out of revenue service by pilots representing government agencies, airlines, airframe manufacturers, and professional pilot associations. A system was then placed into scheduled airline service for six months during which 555 two-segment approaches were flown at three airports by 55 airline pilots. The system was determined to be safe, easy to fly, and compatible with the airline operational environment.

Schwind, G. K.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Advanced Free Flight Planner and Dispatcher's Workstation: Preliminary Design Specification

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has implemented the Advanced Air Transportation Technology (AATT) program to investigate future improvements to the national and international air traffic management systems. This research, as part of the AATT program, developed preliminary design requirements for an advanced Airline Operations Control (AOC) dispatcher's workstation, with emphasis on flight planning. This design will support the implementation of an experimental workstation in NASA laboratories that would emulate AOC dispatch operations. The work developed an airline flight plan data base and specified requirements for: a computer tool for generation and evaluation of free flight, user preferred trajectories (UPT); the kernel of an advanced flight planning system to be incorporated into the UPT-generation tool; and an AOC workstation to house the UPT-generation tool and to provide a real-time testing environment. A prototype for the advanced flight plan optimization kernel was developed and demonstrated. The flight planner uses dynamic programming to search a four-dimensional wind and temperature grid to identify the optimal route, altitude and speed for successive segments of a flight. An iterative process is employed in which a series of trajectories are successively refined until the LTPT is identified. The flight planner is designed to function in the current operational environment as well as in free flight. The free flight environment would enable greater flexibility in UPT selection based on alleviation of current procedural constraints. The prototype also takes advantage of advanced computer processing capabilities to implement more powerful optimization routines than would be possible with older computer systems.

Wilson, J.↗

NASA NTRS1997

The UNO Aviation Monograph Series: The Airline Quality Rating 1997

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating 1991 issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Rating 1997, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1996. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) 1997 is a summary of a month-by-month quality ratings for the nine major domestic U.S. airlines operating during 1996. Using the Airline Quality Rating system and monthly performance data for each airline for the calendar year of 1996, individual and comparative ratings are reported. This research monograph contains a brief summary of the AQR methodology, detailed data and charts that track comparative quality for major domestic airlines across the 12 month period of 1996, and industry average results. Also comparative Airline Quality Rating data for 1991 through 1995 are included to provide a longer term view of quality in the industry.

Bowen, Brent D.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Validation of Aircraft Noise Prediction Models at Low Levels of Exposure

Aircraft noise measurements were made at Denver International Airport for a period of four weeks. Detailed operational information was provided by airline operators which enabled noise levels to be predicted using the FAA's Integrated Noise Model. Several thrust prediction techniques were evaluated. Measured sound exposure levels for departure operations were found to be 4 to 10 dB higher than predicted, depending on the thrust prediction technique employed. Differences between measured and predicted levels are shown to be related to atmospheric conditions present at the aircraft altitude.

Page, Juliet A.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Validation of Aircraft Noise Prediction Models at Low Levels of Exposure

Page, Juliet A.↗

NASA NTRS1972

A Critique of Cab Regulatory Policy

The regulatory policies of the Civil Aviation Board are discussed. The objectives of the Civil Aviation Board are defined. Specific actions of the Civil Aviation Board with respect to passenger fares, rate levels, and load factors are presented. The decisions on successful and unsuccessful mergers of airlines during the 1938 to 1972 time period are analyzed. Tables of data are presented to show the economic aspects of airline operations during 1955, 1960, and 1970.

management methods↗

NASA NTRS1999

A Comparison of CTAS and Airline Time of Arrival Predictions

A statistically-based comparison of aircraft times of arrival between Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS) air traffic control scheduling and airline predictions is presented. CTAS is found to provide much improved values, forming the foundation for airline operational improvements, as observed during an airline field trial of a CTAS display.

Heere, Karen R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Simultaneous cabin and ambient ozone measurements on two Boeing 747 airplanes, volume 1

Measurements of zone concentrations both outside and in the cabin of an airline operated Boeing 747SP and Boeing 747-100 airliner are presented. Plotted data and the corresponding tables of observations taken at altitude between the departure and destination airports of each flight are arranged chronologically for the two aircraft. Data were taken at five or ten minute intervals by automated instrumentation used in the NACA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program.

Perkins, P. J.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Initial TASAR Operations Onboard Alaska Airlines

NASA and Alaska Airlines jointly conducted an operational evaluation of NASA’s Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept. Featuring a NASA-developed cockpit automation tool, the Traffic Aware Planner (TAP), and leveraging the emerging “connected aircraft” architecture, TASAR enables pilots to identify route changes compatible with nearby traffic and airspace constraints that improve flight efficiency and are more likely to receive Air Traffic Control approval. TASAR was developed in anticipation of saving fuel and flight time, thereby providing immediate and pervasive benefits to the aircraft operator. Following a previously reported, extensive program of integration and preliminary in-flight testing, the operational evaluation of TASAR in revenue service by Alaska Airlines took place from July 2018 to April 2019. This paper describes the operational evaluation, the methodology for quantifying operational benefits, preliminary benefit results, and other unexpected impacts of TASAR operations during revenue flights. Based on the subset of data available at publication, preliminary estimated benefits averaged about $92 per flight across all flights including those without benefit. Identified factors indicate the estimated benefit per flight was likely a conservative estimate. Benefit categories including home runs, cumulative small gains, and plan validation benefits are illustrated with specific examples observed during the operational evaluation.

Wing, David J.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Flight Test Analysis of the Forces and Moments Imparted on a B737-100 Airplane During Wake Vortex Encounters

Aircraft travel has become a major form of transportation. Several of our major airports are operating near their capacity limit, increasing congestion and delays for travelers. As a result, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been working in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airline operators, and the airline industry to increase airport capacity without sacrificing public safety. One solution to the problem is to increase the number of airports and build new. runways; yet, this solution is becoming increasingly difficult due to limited space. A better solution is to increase the production per runway. This solution increases the possibility that one aircraft will encounter the trailing wake of another aircraft. Hazardous wake vortex encounters occur when an aircraft encounters the wake produced by a heavier aircraft. This heavy-load aircraft produces high-intensity wake turbulence that redistributes the aerodynamic loads of trailing smaller aircraft. This situation is particularly hazardous for smaller aircraft during takeoffs and landings. In order to gain a better understanding of the wake-vortex/aircraft encounter phenomena, NASA Langley Research Center conducted a series of flight tests from 1995 through 1997. These tests were designed to gather data for the development a wake encounter and wake-measurement data set with the accompanying atmospheric state information. This data set is being compiled into a database that can be used by wake vortex researchers to compare with experimental and computational results. The purpose of this research is to derive and implement a procedure for calculating the wake-vortex/aircraft interaction portion of that database by using the data recorded during those flight tests. There were three objectives to this research. Initially, the wake-induced forces and moments from each flight were analyzed based on varying flap deflection angles. The flap setting alternated between 15 and 30 degrees while the separation distance remained constant. This examination was performed to determine if increases in flap deflection would increase or decrease the effects of the wake-induced forces and moments. Next, the wake-induced forces and moments from each flight were analyzed based on separation distances of 1-3 nautical miles. In this comparison, flap deflection was held constant at 30 degrees. The purpose of this study was to determine if increased separation distances reduced the effects of the wake vortex on the aircraft. The last objective compared the wake-induced forces and moments of each flight as it executed a series of maneuvers through the wake-vortex. This analysis was conducted to examine the impact of the wake on the B737 as it traversed the wake horizontally and vertically. Results from the first analysis indicated that there was no difference in wake effect at flap deflections of 15 and 30 degrees. This conclusion is evidenced in the cases of the wake-induced sideforce, rolling moment, and yawing moment. The wake-induced lift, drag, and pitching moment cases yielded less conclusive results. The second analysis compared the wake-induced forces and moments at separation distances of 1-3 nautical miles. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in the wake-induced lift, drag, sideforce, or yawing moment coefficients. The analysis compared the wake-induced forces and moments based on different flight maneuvers. It was found that the wake-induced forces and moments had the greatest impact on out-to-in and in-to-out maneuvers.

Roberts, Chistopher L.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Flight Test Analysis of the Forces and Moments Imparted on a B737-100 Aircraft During Wake Vortex Encounters

Several of our major airports are operating at or near their capacity limit, increasing congestion and delays for travelers. As a result, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been working in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airline operators, and the airline industry to increase airport capacity and safety. As more and more airplanes are placed into the terminal area the probability of encountering wake turbulence is increased. The NASA Langley Research Center conducted a series of flight tests from 1995 through 1997 to develop a wake encounter and wake-measurement data set with the accompanying atmospheric state information. The purpose of this research is to use the data from those flights to compute the wake-induced forced and moments exerted on the aircraft The calculated forces and moments will then be compiled into a database that can be used by wake vortex researchers to compare with experimental and computational results.

Roberts, Christopher L.↗

NASA NTRS2012

NASA Research on an Integrated Concept for Airport Surface Operations Management

Surface operations at airports in the US are based on tactical operations, where departure aircraft primarily queue up and wait at the departure runways. There have been attempts to address the resulting inefficiencies with both strategic and tactical tools for metering departure aircraft. This presentation gives an overview of Spot And Runway Departure Advisor with Collaborative Decision Making (SARDA-CDM): an integrated strategic and tactical system for improving surface operations by metering departure aircraft. SARDA-CDM is the augmentation of ground and local controller advisories through sharing of flight movement and related operations information between airport operators, flight operators and air traffic control at the airport. The goal is to enhance the efficiency of airport surface operations by exchanging information between air traffic control and airline operators, while minimizing adverse effects on stakeholders and passengers. The presentation motivates the need for departure metering, and provides a brief background on the previous work on SARDA. Then, the concept of operations for SARDA-CDM is described. Then the preliminary results from testing the concept in a real-time automated simulation environment are described. Results indicate benefits such as reduction in taxiing delay and fuel consumption. Further, the preliminary implementation of SARDA-CDM seems robust for two minutes delay in gate push-back times.

Gupta, Gautam↗

NASA NTRS2014

A Task Analytic Process to Define Future Concepts in Aviation

A necessary step when developing next generation systems is to understand the tasks that operators will perform. One NextGen concept under evaluation termed Single Pilot Operations (SPO) is designed to improve the efficiency of airline operations. One SPO concept includes a Pilot on Board (PoB), a Ground Station Operator (GSO), and automation. A number of procedural changes are likely to result when such changes in roles and responsibilities are undertaken. Automation is expected to relieve the PoB and GSO of some tasks (e.g. radio frequency changes, loading expected arrival information). A major difference in the SPO environment is the shift to communication-cued crosschecks (verbal / automated) rather than movement-cued crosschecks that occur in a shared cockpit. The current article highlights a task analytic process of the roles and responsibilities between a PoB, an approach-phase GSO, and automation.

single pilot operations↗

NASA NTRS1973

Studies in short haul air transportation in the California corridor: Effects of design runway length; community acceptance; impact of return on investment and fuel cost increases, volume 1

The impact of design runway length on the economics and traffic demand of a 1985 short haul air transportation system in the California Corridor was investigated. The community acceptance of new commercial airports for short haul service was studied. The following subjects were analyzed: (1) travel demand, (2) vehicle technology, (3) infrastructure, (4) systems analysis, and (5) effects on the community. The operation of the short haul system is compared with conventional airline operations.

Shevell, R. S.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Effectiveness evaluation of STOL transport operations

A short-takeoff and landing (STOL) systems simulation model has been developed and implemented in a computer code (known as STOL OPS) which permits evaluation of the operation of a STOL aircraft and its avionics in a commercial airline operating environment. STOL OPS concentrated on the avionics functions of navigation, guidance, control, communication, hazard aviodance, and systems management. External world factors influencing the operation of the STOL aircraft include each airport and its geometry, air traffic at each airport, air traffic control equipment and procedures, weather (including winds and visibility), and the flight path between each airport served by the route. The development of the STOL OPS program provides NASA a set of computer programs which can be used for detailed analysis of a STOL aircraft and its avionics and permit establishment of system requirements as a function of airline mission performance goals.

Hitt, E. F.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Understanding Current Safety Issues for Trajectory Based Operations

Increases in procedural complexity were investigated as a possible contributor to flight path deviations in airline operations. Understanding current operational issues and their causes must be embraced to maintain current safety standards while increasing future functionality. ASRS data and expert narratives were used to discover factors relating to pilot deviations. Our investigation pointed to ATC intervention, automation confusion, procedure design, and mixed equipment as primary issues. Future work will need to include objective data and mitigation strategies.

RNAV STAR↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Designing for Advanced Aerial Mobility: Human-Autonomy Teaming and In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance

The continued growth of aviation shall require new innovative technologies and operational concepts to meet the ever-increasing demands on air transportation. The NASA Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project focuses on emerging aviation markets, such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM). UAM is defined as “...a safe and efficient system for air passenger and cargo transportation within an urban area. It is inclusive of small package delivery and other urban unmanned aerial system services and supports a mix of onboard/ground-piloted and increasingly autonomous operations” ([1]). The AAM project emphasizes technology development and validating system-level concepts and solutions in coordination with other NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) projects to enable UAM metro- and micro-plex vertiport and airspace concepts of operations. The NASA AAM research portfolio includes the concepts of Remote Supervisor-in-Command (RSC) and Fleet and Airspace Manager (FAM) as possible human roles for consumer fleet providers. NASA research in RSC is focused on development of guidelines and standards for remote pilots/operators passively and actively controlling a large fleet of autonomous aircraft. For FAM, flight and ground system concepts and technologies to enable high density homogeneous operations at increased scale from vertiport(s), and coordination with other humans in the systems (e.g., UAM urban airspace manager, Air Traffic Control) are key research areas. The envisioned UAM operations are posited to require autonomous systems to enable functions ranging from fleet and resource management to vehicle control. Although automation has become increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous in civil aviation, autonomy represents a significant evolution in automation, which has generally been limited in functional scope and capability. As autonomy takes on increasing responsibilities, humans and machines will be required to work together in new and different ways [2], rather than traditional design approaches focused on how machines (i.e., autonomy) can do the work of people. The emerging field of human-autonomy teaming (HAT) represents a comprehensive and prioritized research-driven approach to enable the success of future emerging aviation market applications through capabilities and principles that facilitate humans and machine working and thinking better together. The NASA Transformational Tools and Technologies (TTT) Autonomous System (AS) Sub-project was created to assist with the transition into higher levels of autonomy to enable new modes of air transportation, such as UAM. TTT-AS has identified HAT as a key research need to enable UAM while maintaining today’s ultra-safe aviation system safety levels. The latter challenge has been taken up by the NASA System-Wide Safety (SWS) Project, which recognizes that aviation safety, as it evolves, shall require new ways of thinking about safety to include integration of a wide-range of existing and new safety systems and practices, enhanced tools and technologies, increased access to data and data fusion, improved data analysis capabilities, enhanced in-time risk monitoring and detection, hazard prioritization and mitigation, safety assurance decision-support, and in-time integrated system analytics [3].The operational concept of UAM represents a variety of work that has been termed, “work-as-imagined” to characterize the idea that how people think that work is done and how work is actually done are often not the same [4]. To ensure design success and system safety, looking at “work-as-done” provides a comparative approach toward UAM concept and technology design through examination of corresponding analogs found today in aviation (e.g., on-demand operations) and other transportation domains (e.g., port operations). The paper shall discuss various alternative applications with specific focus on airline operation center (AOC) operations, and unmanned aerial system (UAS) command-and-control to inform scaled-versions of FAM and RSC, respectively, and with consideration of the national airspace system contextual environment. The tenets and principles of the HAT field and current NASA research efforts under the TTT-AS sub-project shall also be described. Finally, the SWS sub-project efforts to develop In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance (ISSA) and In-Time Safety Management Systems (IASMS) are discussed in terms of how “in-time” safety assurance may be conceptualized for the on-demand mobility air taxi “work-as-imagined” operational concept [5]. As part of this effort, concepts from the emerging field of resilience engineering, are being studied. Traditional approaches to aviation safety have focused on what can go wrong and how to prevent it. Another approach to thinking about system safety should reflect not only “avoiding things that go wrong” (protective safety) but also “ensuring that things go right” (productive safety), that enables a system to exhibit the resilient performance [6] necessary for the success of the future aviation system emerging concepts of operations. The paper shall describe efforts focused on how productive safety and resilience may enable a more complete approach to system safety thinking and design of ISSA and IASMS for UAM. Future directions and research needs shall also be discussed.

resilience↗