Aviation research, sourced & cited.

Ditching Investigation of a 1/15-Scale Model of the Convair-Liner Airplane

A ditching investigation of a model of the Convair-Liner airplane was made to observe the behavior and determine the safest procedure for making an emergency water landing.

Ditching Tests of a 1/18-Scale Model of the Lockheed Constellation Airplane

Tests were made of a 1/18-scale dynamically similar model of the Lockheed Constellation airplane to investigate its ditching characteristics and proper ditching technique.

Ditching Tests of a 1/18-Scale Model of the Lockheed Constellation Airplane with Speedpak Attached

Results of previous model ditching tests of the Lockheed Constellation airplane are reported. Further model tests have been made to determine the probable ditching characteristics and the proper ditching technique for th…

Physiological Self-Regulation and Adaptive Automation

Adaptive automation has been proposed as a solution to current problems of human-automation interaction. Past research has shown the potential of this advanced form of automation to enhance pilot engagement and lower cog…

Oceanic Situational Awareness Over the Pacific Corridor

Air traffic control (ATC) mandated, aircraft separations over the oceans impose a limitation on traffic capacity for a given corridor, given the projected traffic growth over the Pacific Ocean.

Oceanic Situational Awareness over the North Atlantic Corridor

Air traffic control (ATC) mandated, aircraft separations over the oceans impose a limitation on traffic capacity for a given corridor, given the projected traffic growth over the oceanic domain.

Oceanic Situational Awareness Over the Gulf of Mexico

Air traffic control (ATC) mandated, aircraft separations over the oceans impose a limitation on traffic capacity for a given corridor, given the projected traffic growth over the Gulf of Mexico.

Particulate Emissions Hazards Associated with Fueling Heat Engines

All hydrocarbon- (HC-) fueled heat engine exhaust (tailpipe) emissions (<10 to 140 nm) contribute as health hazards, including emissions from transportation vehicles (e.g., aircraft) and other HC-fueled power systems.

Intelligent Engine Systems Work Element 1.2: Malfunction and Operator Error Reduction

Jet engines, although highly reliable and safe, do experience malfunctions that cause flight delays, passenger stress, and in some cases, in conjunction with inappropriate crew response, contribute to airplane accidents.…

Synthetic Vision Systems

A synthetic vision system is an aircraft cockpit display technology that presents the visual environment external to the aircraft using computer-generated imagery in a manner analogous to how it would appear to the pilot…

Evaluating the Effects of Dimensionality in Advanced Avionic Display Concepts for Synthetic Vision Systems

Synthetic vision systems provide an in-cockpit view of terrain and other hazards via a computer-generated display representation. Two experiments examined several display concepts for synthetic vision and evaluated how s…

Failure Analysis of Electrical Pin Connectors

A study was initiated to determine the root cause of failure for circuit board electrical connection pins that failed during vibRatory testing.

Secure ADS-B authentication system and method

A secure system for authenticating the identity of ADS-B systems, including: an authenticator, including a unique id generator and a transmitter transmitting the unique id to one or more ADS-B transmitters; one or more A…

Human Systems Integration and Automation Issues in Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The goal of this report is to identify Human System Integration (HSI) and automation issues that contribute to improved effectiveness and efficiency in the operation of U.S.

Airborne Evaluation and Demonstration of a Time-Based Airborne Inter-Arrival Spacing Tool

An airborne tool has been developed that allows an aircraft to obtain a precise inter-arrival time-based spacing interval from the preceding aircraft.

Analysis of Rapidly Developing Low Cloud Ceilings in a Stable Environment

This report describes the work done by the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) in developing a database of days that experienced rapid (< 90 minutes) low cloud formation in a stable atmosphere, resulting in ceilings at the Sh…

Stable Low Cloud Phase II: Nocturnal Event Study

This report describes the work done by the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) in developing a database of nights that experienced rapid (< 90 minutes) low cloud formation in a stable atmosphere, resulting in ceilings at the …

The Implications of Handling Qualities in Civil Helicopter Accidents Involving Hover and Low Speed Flight

Because of increasing accident rates in Army helicopters in hover and low speed flight, a study was made in 1999 of accidents which could be attributed to inadequate stability augmentation.

Causal Factors and Adverse Conditions of Aviation Accidents and Incidents Related to Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control

The causal factors of accidents from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database and incidents from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) database associated with loss of control (LOC) were examined for …

The Effects of Hot Corrosion Pits on the Fatigue Resistance of a Disk Superalloy

The effects of hot corrosion pits on low cycle fatigue life and failure modes of the disk superalloy ME3 were investigated. Low cycle fatigue specimens were subjected to hot corrosion exposures producing pits, then teste…

NASA Aviation Safety Program Weather Accident Prevention/weather Information Communications (WINCOMM)

Weather is a contributing factor in approximately 25-30 percent of general aviation accidents. The lack of timely, accurate and usable weather information to the general aviation pilot in the cockpit to enhance pilot sit…

An Evaluation of an Analytical Simulation of an Airplane with Tailplane Icing by Comparison to Flight Data

This report presents the assessment of an analytical tool developed as part of the NASA/FAA Tailplane Icing Program. The analytical tool is a specialized simulation program called TAILSM4 which was developed to model the…

Runway Safety Monitor Algorithm for Runway Incursion Detection and Alerting

The Runway Safety Monitor (RSM) is an algorithm for runway incursion detection and alerting that was developed in support of NASA's Runway Incursion Prevention System (RIPS) research conducted under the NASA Aviation Saf…

Turbulence Climatology at Dallas/Ft.Worth (DFW) Airport: Implications for a Departure Wake Vortex Spacing System

Potential adaptive wake vortex spacing systems may need to rely on wake vortex decay rather than wake vortex transport in reducing wake separations.

Flight Simulator Evaluation of Synthetic Vision Display Concepts to Prevent Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

In commercial aviation, over 30-percent of all fatal accidents worldwide are categorized as Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents, where a fully functioning airplane is inadvertently flown into the ground.

Preliminary Effect of Synthetic Vision Systems Displays to Reduce Low-Visibility Loss of Control and Controlled Flight Into Terrain Accidents

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the effectiveness of Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) flight displays as a means of eliminating Low Visibility Loss of Control (LVLOC) and Controlled Flight Into Terrain…

Ergonomic Evaluations of Microgravity Workstations

Various gloveboxes (GBXs) have been used aboard the Shuttle and ISS. Though the overall technical specifications are similar, each GBX's crew interface is unique.

Ultra-High Bypass Engine Aeroacoustic Study

A system study was carried out to identify potential advanced aircraft engine concepts and cycles which could be capable of achieving a 5 to 10 EPNdB reduction in community noise level relative to current FAR36 Stage 3 l…

Crew Factors in Flight Operations XIV: Alertness Management in Regional Flight Operations Education Module

Regional operations encompass a broad range of pilots and equipment. This module is intended to help all those involved in regional aviation, including pilots, schedulers, dispatchers, maintenance technicians, policy mak…

Crew Factors in Flight Operations: A Survey of Fatigue Factors in Corporate/Executive A Viation Operations - 8

Corporate flight crews face unique challenges including unscheduled flights, quickly changing schedules, extended duty days, long waits, time zone changes, and peripheral tasks.

Crew Factors in Flight Operations X: Alertness Management in Flight Operations

In response to a 1980 congressional request, NASA Ames Research Center initiated a Fatigue/Jet Lag Program to examine fatigue, sleep loss, and circadian disruption in aviation.

An Integrated Decision-Making Model for Categorizing Weather Products and Decision Aids

The National Airspace System s capacity will experience considerable growth in the next few decades. Weather adversely affects safe air travel.

Context-Aware Intelligent Assistant Approach to Improving Pilot's Situational Awareness

Faulty decision making due to inaccurate or incomplete awareness of the situation tends to be the prevailing cause of fatal general aviation accidents.

A Cognitive Engineering Analysis of the Vertical Navigation (VNAV) Function

A cognitive engineering analysis of the Flight Management System (FMS) Vertical Navigation (VNAV) function has identified overloading of the VNAV button and overloading of the Flight Mode Annunciator (FMA) used by the VN…

Relationship between Aircraft Noise Contour Area and Noise Levels at Certification Points

The use of sound exposure level contour area reduction has been proposed as an alternative or supplemental metric of progress and success for the NASA Quiet Aircraft Technology program, which currently uses the average o…

Rollout and Turnoff (ROTO) Guidance and Information Displays: Effect on Runway Occupancy Time in Simulated Low-Visibility Landings

This report examines a rollout and turnoff (ROTO) system for reducing the runway occupancy time for transport aircraft in low-visibility weather.

U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents, 1963 Through 1997

Narrative summary data produced by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been obtained and analyzed for all 8,436 U.S. civil registered rotorcraft accidents which occurred from mid-1963 through 1997.

An Analysis of U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents by Cost and Injury (1990-1996)

A study of rotorcraft accidents was conducted to identify safety issues and research areas that might lead to a reduction in rotorcraft accidents and fatalities.

Cognitive Task Analysis of Business Jet Pilots' Weather Flying Behaviors: Preliminary Results

This report presents preliminary findings from a cognitive task analysis (CTA) of business aviation piloting. Results describe challenging weather-related aviation decisions and the information and cues used to support t…

Concept of Operations for Commercial and Business Aircraft Synthetic Vision Systems

A concept of operations (CONOPS) for the Commercial and Business (CaB) aircraft synthetic vision systems (SVS) is described. The CaB SVS is expected to provide increased safety and operational benefits in normal and low …

An Investigation Into Criteria Commonly Used by the FAA to Grant Relief to Part 135 Operators Under FAR Sections: 135.213, 135.219, and/or 135.225

The objective of this study was to determine the criteria commonly used by the FAA to grant waivers, exemptions, or deviations to FAR Part 135, Sections 135.213, 135.219, and 135.225 and the potential impact on Flight In…

UAV Access Point Placement for Connectivity to a User with Unknown Location Using Deep RL

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been considered for telecommunications purposes as relays, caches, or IoT data collectors.

System Architecture for Real-time Surface Inspection Using Multiple UAVs

This paper presents a real-time control system for surface inspection using multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The UAVs are coordinated in a specific formation to collect data of the inspecting objects.

Interference Avoidance Position Planning in Dual-hop and Multi-hop UAV Relay Networks

We consider unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted wireless communication employing UAVs as relay nodes to increase the throughput between a pair of transmitter and receiver.

New Data-Driven Estimation of Terrestrial CO2 Fluxes in Asia Using a Standardized Database of Eddy Covariance Measurements, Remote Sensing Data, and Support Vector Regression

The lack of a standardized database of eddy covariance observations has been an obstacle for data-driven estimation of terrestrial carbon dioxide fluxes in Asia.

Safety and human factors for electronic flight bag usage in general aviation

Paper checklists are being replaced by software on a tablet computer, i.e., an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). We focus on what effects this can have on the human pilot and on safety and security.

NASA/FAA Tailplane Icing Program: Flight Test Report

This report presents results from research flights that explored the characteristics of an ice-contaminated tailplane using various simulated ice shapes attached to the leading edge of the horizontal tailplane.

[Tail Plane Icing]

The Aviation Safety Program initiated by NASA in 1997 has put greater emphasis in safety related research activities. Ice-contaminated-tailplane stall (ICTS) has been identified by the NASA Lewis Icing Technology Branch …

DHC-6 Twin Otter Tailplane Airfoil Section Testing in the Ohio State University 7x10 Wind Tunnel

Ice contaminated tailplane stall (ICTS) has been found to be responsible for 16 accidents with 139 fatalities over the last three decades, and is suspected to have played a role in other accidents and incidents.

Rating the Relevance of QUORUM-Selected ASRS Incident Narratives to a "Controlled Flight into Terrain" Accident

An exploratory study was conducted to identify commercial aviation incidents that are relevant to a "controlled flight into terrain" (CFIT) accident using a NASA-developed text processing method.