Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription or Fee Access

Visual Flight Rules Pilots Into Instrumental Meteorological Conditions: a Proposal for a Mobile Application to Increase In-flight Survivability


(*) Corresponding author


Authors' affiliations


DOI: https://doi.org/10.15866/irease.v9i5.10391

Abstract


This paper describes a handheld application to help pilots when entering degraded visibility conditions. In this case, the loss of control is a typical emergency situation from which a pilot should be able to recover, but often he/she doesn’t do owing to problems of situation awareness. A new instrument, based on the use of accelerometers/GPS equipping modern handheld devices has been designed, virtually tested in flight simulators and finally tested in flight. Attention has been given to show essential information in a very simple and intuitive way, so that the instrument can be useful in case of pilot disorientation, panic or high stress levels. After a testing phase, the instrument showed useful to provide an indication about the attitude of the plane and to provide the pilot an indication of the stick and throttle movements needed to restore a safe levelled flight. The use of this application by pilots in emergency situation can enhance the survivability in Instrument Meteorological Conditions also without a specific training. This paper shows how the high computation capability and advanced visualization devices typical of smartphones can be useful to increase the flight safety by developing a new class of emergency not-certified instruments. A further testing phase of the instrument in critical conditions like gusty environment or deteriorated weather will be carried out as a future development of this work to better evaluate the limits of the instrument herein described.
Copyright © 2016 Praise Worthy Prize - All rights reserved.

Keywords


Flight Safety; Human Machine Interfaces; VMC; IMC; Flight Simulation

Full Text:

PDF


References


Cummins, P., 178 seconds to live: VFR into IMC, Flight Safety Australia, January/February 2006,
http://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2016/01/178-seconds-to-live-vfr-into-imc/

Ison, D, (2014). Correlates of Continued Visual Flight Rules (VFR) into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) General
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/e577552012-007

Aviation Accidents. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 24 (1).
http://commons.erau.edu/jaaer/vol24/iss1/1

Pagán, B.J., De Voogt, A.J., Van Doorn, R.R.A. (2006) Ultralight aviation accident factors and latent failures: A 66-case study, Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine, 77 (9), pp. 950-952,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16964745

Goh, J., and Wiegmann, D., Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into meteorological conditions (IMC): A review of accident data. In R. Jensen (Ed), 11th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology. (2001) Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University,
http://www.aviation.illinois.edu/avimain/papers/research/pub_pdfs/isap/gohwiegmannavpsy01.pdf

Wiegmann, D. A., Goh, J., & O’Hare, D. (2002). The role of situation assessment and flight experience in pilots’ decisions to continue visual flight rules flight into adverse weather. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 44 (2), pp. 189-197,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1518/0018720024497871

Wilson, D.R. and Fallshore, M. Optimistic and ability biases in pilots’ decisions and perceptions of risk regarding VFR flight into IMC. In R.Jensen (Ed), 11th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology. (2001) Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University”,
https://www.cwu.edu/sites/cts.cwu.edu.aviation/files/documents/Optimistic%2520and%2520Ability%2520Biases_0.pdf

Othman, N., Romli, F., Mental Workload Evaluation of Pilots Using Pupil Dilation, (2016) International Review of Aerospace Engineering (IREASE), 9 (3), pp. 80-84.
http://dx.doi.org/10.15866/irease.v9i3.9541

Wilson, D.R. and Sloan T.A. (2003), VFR Flight Into IMC: Reducing the Hazard, Embry-Riddle Journal of Aviation / Aerospace Education and research, Volume 13, Article 9,
http://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1567&context=jaaer

Allerton, D., (2009) "Principles of Flight Simulation (AIAA Education)", John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, ISBN: 9780470754368,
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470685662

Krause, S. (2003). Air safety: Accident investigations, analyses, & applications (2nd ed). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN-10: 0071409742; ISBN-13: 978-0071409742,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/0071433937

Nelson, R.C.: Flight stability and automatic control, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York (1998),
http://www.mheducation.com/highered/product.M0070462739.html?searchContext=flight+stability+and+automatic+control

Matlab software user guide by The Mathworks,
www.mathworks.com

Flightgear free flight simulator user guide, available on line at: www.flightgear.org

Holla, S., and Katti, M. M., (2012) “Android Based Mobile Application Development and its Security”, International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology – Volume 31, issue 3, ISSN: 2231-2803,
http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org

Ma, L., Gu, L., and Wang, J., “Research and Development of Mobile Application for Android Platform”, International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering, Vol.9 No.4 (2014), pp. 187-198,
http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijmue.2014.9.4.20

Stewart, C.J. (1930) The Design of Aircraft Instruments: The Reasons Why They Must be Specially Produced and Attempts at Adaptation Result in Failure, Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 2 Iss: 7, pp.173 – 176,
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/eb029289

U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Aviation Administration, Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge FAA-H-8083-25A, (2008),
www.faa.org

Corona SDK compiler,
https://www.coronalabs.com

Li, W., Wang, J. (2013) “Effective adaptive kalman filter for MEMS-IMU/magnetometers integrated attitude and heading reference systems”, Journal of Navigation, 66 (1), pp. 99-113,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0373463312000331

Acosta, D.M., Yildiz, Y., Craun, R.W., Beard, S.D., Leonard, M.W., Hardy, G.H., Weinstein, M., (2015) “Piloted evaluation of a control allocation technique to recover from pilot-induced oscillations”, Journal of Aircraft, 52 (1), pp. 130-140,
http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.c032576

Unmanned Dynamics website,
www.u-dynamics.com/aerosim

Billings, C. E., & Reynard, W. D. (1984). Human factors in aircraft incidents: Results of a 7 year study. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 55, pp. 960-965,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6497826


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.



Please send any question about this web site to info@praiseworthyprize.com
Copyright © 2005-2024 Praise Worthy Prize