Emerging Technologies for Airplane State Awareness and Prediction

Abstract

Loss of control in flight (LOC-I) is consistently the leading cause of fatal aircraft accidents. A study of LOC accidents and incidents, commissioned by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) identified a growing trend in loss of Airplane State Awareness (ASA) by the flight crew. This has led to recommended safety enhancements that include flight deck technologies with the potential of enhancing flight crew awareness of airplane energy state. The goal of this research is to develop and evaluate technologies that predict and assess the future aircraft energy state and auto-flight configuration, and provide appropriate alerting to anticipated problematic auto-flight inputs, with the aim of enhancing pilots situational awareness.

Authors

• Schuet, Stefan NASA Ames Research Center
• Kaneshige, John NASA Ames Research Center
• Lombaerts, Thomas Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies Inc. (SGT Inc.)
• Shish, Kimberlee NASA Ames Research Center
• Stepanyan, Vahram Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
• Acosta, Diana NASA Ames Research Center
• Hardy, Gordon SYMVIONICS, Inc.
• Young, Steven NASA Langley Research Center
• Daniels, Taumi NASA Langley Research Center
• Evans, Emory NASA Langley Research Center
• Etherington, Timothy Rockwell Collins, Inc.
• Uijt de Haag, Maarten Ohio Univ.
• Kiggins, Daniel National Inst. of Aerospace Associates

Keywords

• Aircraft Safety