Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974-
Other Authors: R. John Hansman, Jr.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17833
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author Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974-
author2 R. John Hansman, Jr.
author_facet R. John Hansman, Jr.
Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974-
author_sort Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974-
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004.
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spelling mit-1721.1/178332022-01-13T07:54:11Z Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974- R. John Hansman, Jr. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aeronautics and Astronautics. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004. Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-138). Adverse weather significantly impacts the safety and efficiency of flight operations. Weather information plays a key role in mitigating the impact of adverse weather on flight operations by supporting air transportation decision-makers' awareness of operational and mission risks. The emergence of new technologies for the surveillance, modeling, dissemination and presentation of information provides opportunities for improving both weather information and user decision-making. In order to support the development of new weather information systems, it is important to understand this complex problem thoroughly. This thesis applies a human-centered systems engineering approach to study the problem of separating aircraft from adverse weather. The approach explicitly considers the role of the human operator as part of the larger operational system. A series of models describing the interaction of the key elements of the adverse aircraft-weather encounter problem and a framework that characterizes users' temporal decision- making were developed. Another framework that better matches pilots' perspectives compared to traditional forecast verification methods articulated the value of forecast valid time according to a space-time reference frame. The models and frameworks were validated using focused interviews with ten national subject matter experts in aviation meteorology or flight operations. The experts unanimously supported the general structure of the models and made suggestions on clarifications and refinements which were integrated in the final models. In addition, a cognitive walk-through of three adverse aircraft-weather encounters was conducted to provide an experiential perspective on the aviation weather problem. (cont.) The scenarios were chosen to represent three of the most significant aviation weather hazards: icing, convective weather and low ceilings and visibility. They were built on actual meteorological information and the missions and pilot decisions were synthesized to investigate important weather encounter events. The cognitive walk-through and the models were then used to identify opportunities for improving weather information and training. Of these, the most significant include opportunities to address users' four-dimensional trajectory-centric perspectives and opportunities to improve the ability of pilots to make contingency plans when dealing with stochastic information. by Laurence Vigeant-Langlois. Ph.D. 2005-06-02T18:51:16Z 2005-06-02T18:51:16Z 2004 2004 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17833 56569975 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 193, 937-944, [6] p. 14827225 bytes 14850552 bytes application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974-
Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
title Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
title_full Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
title_fullStr Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
title_full_unstemmed Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
title_short Human-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
title_sort human centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weather
topic Aeronautics and Astronautics.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17833
work_keys_str_mv AT vigeantlangloislaurence1974 humancenteredsystemsanalysisofaircraftseparationfromadverseweather