Staff publications (SATM)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/8738

Browse

Browsing Staff publications (SATM) by Publisher "Aerospace Medical Association"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    General Aviation Pilots Over 70 Years Old
    (Aerospace Medical Association, 2017-02-01) Vuorio, Alpo; Asmayawati, Saryani; Budowle, Bruce; Griffiths, Robin; Strandberg, Timo; Kuoppala, Jaana; Sajantila, Antti
    BACKGROUND: Currently it is not unusual for general aviation pilots in the United States to continue to fly beyond the age of 70, even into their 80s and 90s. Pilots have regular examinations according to protocols which do not specify special or additional requirements for pilots over 70 yr of age. Additionally, the third class medical reforms passed by the U.S. Senate on 15 July 2016 could potentially result in even less stringent medical certification requirements for general aviation pilots. METHODS: Accident rates, medical parameters, autopsy findings, and toxicological findings from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) general aviation (GA) accident database were analyzed to assess potential risk factors with accident outcomes. RESULTS: During 2003–2012, there were 114 (113 men, 1 woman) general aviation fatal accidents involving pilots ages 70 to 92 yr. A combination of 3 or more drugs were found in 13 (13%) of deceased pilots. The most frequent drugs were first generation antihistamines and antidepressants represented the next highest proportion of possible performance-affecting medications. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that there are critical medical factors that may contribute to fatal accidents among elderly pilots. Polypharmacy use should be taken into consideration, especially during periodic health examinations and fatal aviation investigations involving elderly pilots.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Pilots’ visual scan pattern and attention distribution during the pursuit of a dynamic target
    (Aerospace Medical Association, 2016-10-17) Yu, Chung-San; Wang, Eric Min-yang; Li, Wen-Chin; Braithwaite, Graham
    Introduction: The current research is investigating pilots’ visual scan patterns in order to assess attention distribution during air-to-air manoeuvers. Method: A total of thirty qualified mission-ready fighter pilots participated in this research. Eye movement data were collected by a portable head-mounted eye-tracking device, combined with a jet fighter simulator. To complete the task, pilots have to search for, pursue, and lock-on a moving target whilst performing air-to-air tasks. Results: There were significant differences in pilots’ saccade duration (msec) in three operating phases including searching (M=241, SD=332), pursuing (M=311, SD=392), and lock-on (M=191, SD=226). Also, there were significant differences in pilots’ pupil sizes (pixel2) of which lock-on phase was the largest (M=27237, SD=6457), followed by pursuing (M=26232, SD=6070), then searching (M=25858, SD=6137). Furthermore, there were significant differences between expert and novice pilots on the percentage of fixation on the HUD, time spent looking outside the cockpit, and the performance of situational awareness (SA). Discussion: Experienced pilots have better SA performance and paid more attention to the HUD but focused less outside the cockpit when compared with novice pilots. Furthermore, pilots with better SA performance exhibited a smaller pupil size during the operational phase of lock-on whilst pursuing a dynamic target. Understanding pilots’ visual scan patterns and attention distribution are beneficial to the design of interface displays in the cockpit and in developing human factors training syllabi to improve safety of flight operations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Pilots’ visual scan pattern and situation awareness in flight operations
    (Aerospace Medical Association, 2014-04-18) Yu, Chung-San; Wang, Eric Min-yang; Li, Wen-Chin; Braithwaite, Graham
    Introduction: Situation awareness (SA) is considered an essential prerequisite for safe flying. If the impact of visual scanning patterns on a pilot’s situation awareness could be identified in flight operations, then eye-tracking tools could be integrated with flight simulators to improve training efficiency. Method: Participating in this research were 18 qualified, mission-ready fighter pilots. The equipment included high-fidelity and fixed-base type flight simulators and mobile head-mounted eye-tracking devices to record a subject’s eye movements and SA while performing air-to-surface tasks. Results: There were significant differences in pilots’ percentage of fixation in three operating phases: preparation (M = 46.09, SD = 14.79), aiming (M = 24.24, SD = 11.03), and release and break-away (M = 33.98, SD = 14.46). Also, there were significant differences in pilots’ pupil sizes, which were largest in the aiming phase (M = 27,621, SD = 6390.8), followed by release and break-away (M = 27,173, SD = 5830.46), then preparation (M = 25,710, SD = 6078.79), which was the smallest. Furthermore, pilots with better SA performance showed lower perceived workload (M = 30.60, SD = 17.86), and pilots with poor SA performance showed higher perceived workload (M = 60.77, SD = 12.72). Pilots’ percentage of fixation and average fixation duration among five different areas of interest showed significant differences as well. Discussion: Eye-tracking devices can aid in capturing pilots’ visual scan patterns and SA performance, unlike traditional flight simulators. Therefore, integrating eye-tracking devices into the simulator may be a useful method for promoting SA training in flight operations, and can provide in-depth understanding of the mechanism of visual scan patterns and information processing to improve training effectiveness in aviation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Pilot’s attention distributions between chasing a moving target and a stationary target
    (Aerospace Medical Association, 2016) Li, Wen-Chin; Yu, Chung-San; Braithwaite, Graham; Greaves, Matthew J.
    Introduction: Attention plays a central role in cognitive processing; ineffective attention may induce accidents in flight operations. The objective of current research was to examine military pilots’ attention distributions between chasing a moving target and a stationary target. Method: Thirty-seven mission-ready F-16 pilots participated in the current research. Subjects’ eye movements were collected by a portable head-mounted eye-tracker during tactical training in a flight simulator. The scenarios of chasing a moving target (air-to-air) and a stationary target (air-to-surface) consist of three operational phases; searching, aiming and lock-on to the targets. Results: The findings demonstrated significant differences in pilots’ percentage of fixation during searching phase between air-to-air (M=37.57, SD=5.72) and air-to-surface (M=33.54, SD=4.68). Fixation duration can indicate pilots’ sustained attention to the trajectory of a dynamic target during dog-fight manoeuvers. Aiming for the stationary target with larger pupil size (M=27105 pixel2, SD=6565 pixel2) reflects higher cognitive loading than aiming to the dynamic target (M=23864 pixel2, SD=8762 pixel2). Discussion: Pilots’ visual behavior is not only closely related to attention distribution, but also significantly associated with task characteristics. Military pilots demonstrated various visual scan patterns for searching and aiming to different types of targets based on the research settings of flight simulator. The findings would facilitate system designers’ understandings of military pilots’ cognitive processes during tactical operations. It will assist human-centered interface design to improve pilots’ situational awareness. The application of an eye-tracking device integrated with a flight simulator is a feasible and cost-effective intervention to improve efficiency and safety of tactical training.