Research papers

Low Altitude RA Virtual Pilot Tabletop: Preliminary Results Summary

A virtual tabletop activity was conducted in support of NASA Airspace Operations and Safety Program’s (AOSP) Air Traffic Management and Safety (ATMS) project.

Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis

In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation capability.

Assessing National Airspace System Impact of the Hybrid Electric Turboprop Commercial Freighter

The Hybrid Electric Turboprop Commercial Freighter (HETCOF) is a large turboprop aircraft using hybrid electric propulsion designed to reduce cost and emissions for narrowbody cargo operations capable of carrying 35,000 …

Integration and Testing of a UAS Airspace Management System in the Wildland Firefighting Environment

NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project explores the use of technology to provide additional aerial support in the wildland firefighting environment by extending the use of Uncrewed…

The Integration of eVTOL Aircraft and Infrastructure into San Jose Mineta International Airport

With the average American spending around 43 hours a year sitting in traffic1, and automobile emissions in the US accounting for 57% of all transportation emissions2, traditional transportation infrastructure can no long…

Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models

Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems. This includes the National Airspace System (NAS) where pilots and controllers make positive…

Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models

Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems. This includes the National Airspace System (NAS) where pilots and controllers make positive…

What Would You Have Done? Learning From Others' Aviation Safety Events

The capacity to learn from both expected and unexpected events has been identified as a critical component of resilient performance. One’s own experiences, however, are not the only opportunities to learn from these type…

Scenario-Based Task Design for Airline Pilot Anticipatory Behaviors: Asynchronous Assessment of Complex Cognitive Skills

In airline operations, pilots are asked to actively produce positive safety outcomes and to learn from their own and others’ successes.

NASA Icing Update – March 2025

This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tests, the Glenn Icing …

Potential of United States and European Regional Air Cargo Operations for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems

Regional air cargo is a promising initial use case for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) to address scalability challenges such as pilot shortage.

Initial Study of Tailored Trajectory Management for Multi-Vehicle Uncrewed Regional Air Cargo Operations

The primary contribution of this paper is an evaluation of the potential value of a tailored trajectory management (TTM) capability for uncrewed aircraft (UA) operators that is proactive in detecting conflicts and develo…

Considerations for Airspace Integration Enabling Early Multi-Aircraft (m:N) Operations

The aviation community is planning to deploy new aircraft types, with new missions, and advanced operational concepts that are collectively referred to as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM).

Confidence-Based Buffer for Strategic Deconfliction with Probabilistic Operational Intent

This paper presents a methodology to expand the 95% confidence level of the elliptical geometry given by Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operators planning to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) to any confidence leve…

Safety Assessment of Conformance Monitoring for Situational Awareness in UTM Operations

This report presents a systematic approach to evaluating the safety benefit of utilizing strategic deconfliction and Conformance Monitoring for Situational Awareness to manage the traffic that is comprised of both confor…

Survey of Methods for Assessing Safety Compliance of sUAS BVLOS Operations

To ensure the safety of small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Beyond Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in the National Airspace System (NAS), the FAA offers a guideline on how sUAS operators can demonstrate compliance wit…

UTM: UAS Traffic Management

NASA is working with industry, public operators, and FAA to enable beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operations wherever it is needed.

Autonomous Drone Integration in Prescribed Fire Operations

With the surge in wildfire frequency and severity, the risk to firefighters, communities, and forests has escalated dramatically. Climate change and increased amounts of fuel have intensified these challenges, making wil…

The Adaptable and Resilient Safety System: The Human Factor in Future In-Time Aviation Safety Management Systems

In-time integrated safety management will be paramount for safely enabling the envisioned transformations of the future National Airspace System (NAS).

An Experimental System for Strategic Flight Path Management in Advanced Air Mobility

In the concept envisioned for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations, fleets of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles would operate between vertiports distributed within a densely populated area.

An Experimental System for Strategic Flight Path Management in Advanced Air Mobility

In the concept envisioned for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations, fleets of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles would operate between vertiports distributed within a densely populated area.

Designing a Flight Test of a Flight Path Management System for Advanced Air Mobility Research

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has completed a flight test to evaluate the performance of an onboard prototype automation system operating in future high density urban airspace.

Managing Maintenance Error: Six Lessons From Aviation Maintenance

There are clear parallels between the ground processing of spacecraft and the maintenance of airline aircraft. In both cases, reliable human performance is critical to safe outcomes.

Initial Study of Tailored Trajectory Management for Multi-Vehicle Uncrewed Regional Air Cargo Operations

The primary contribution of this paper is an evaluation of the potential value of a tailored trajectory management (TTM) capability for uncrewed aircraft (UA) operators that is proactive in detecting conflicts and develo…

Establishing a Pathway to Greener Aviation

The burning and production of jet fuel in both commercial and regional planes at a high volume releases extreme levels of carbon emission as of its current state.

Cognitive Engineering in Training: Monitoring and Pilot-Automation Coordination in Complex Environments

This paper reports our investigation of flight path monitoring in aviation. We interviewed experienced pilots to understand the knowledge and skills underlying effective monitoring and we developed an example learning en…

Human Performance and Fatigue

This presentation summarizes some of the work completed by the Fatigue Countermeasures Lab work for the System-wide Safety Technical Challenge 1.

Vibration Anomaly Detection by Clustering in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

One of the critical factors affecting flight safety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is the amount of vibration they are exposed to during a flight.

Safety Case for Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operations at NASA Langley Research Center

This Technical Memorandum (TM) is written to provide for dissemination of the methods and safety considerations for operations of small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS)at NASA Langley Re…

Nasa Pilot Fatigue Research: Past, Present & Future

Pilot fatigue research at NASA Ames has a long history, initiated by a Congressional request to investigate the magnitude of fatigue, sleep loss and circadian disruption in flight operations, and how these factors impact…

An MBSE Framework to Identify Regulatory Gaps for Electrified Transport Aircraft

A typical aircraft certification process consists of obtaining a type, production, airworthiness, and continued airworthiness certificates.

The In-time Aviation Safety Management System Concept for Part 135 Passenger and Cargo Operators

Machine Learning to Assess Pilots’ Cognitive State

The goal of the Crew State Monitoring (CSM) project is to use machine learning models trained with physiological data to predict unsafe cognitive states in pilots such as Channelized Attention (CA) and Startle/Surprise (…

300 FT Runway Visual Range (RVR) Experiment Review

Aviation Safety Program: Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) Project Overview and Status

This paper presents a project overview and status for the Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) aviation safety program. The topics include: 1) Weather Accident Prevention Project Background/History; 2) Project Modification…

Proceedings of the Second NASA Aviation Safety Program Weather Accident Prevention Review

The Second NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) Annual Project Review held June 5-7, 2001, in Cleveland, Ohio, presented the NASA technical plans and accomplishments to the aviation comm…

Aviation Safety Program: Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) Development of WxAP System Architecture And Concepts of Operation

This paper presents viewgraphs on the development of the Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) System architecture and Concept of Operation (CONOPS) activities.

Decision-Making in Flight with Different Convective Weather Information Sources: Preliminary Results from the Langley CoWS Experiment (COnvective Weather Sources)

This viewgraph presentation provides information on an airborne experiment designed to test the decision making of pilots receiving different sources of meteorological data.

Overview: Business Feasibility of the TAMDAR System

This viewgraph presentation provides information on the business considerations to be made in regard to the development of the TAMDAR (Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting) system.