SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AEROSPACE REPORTS
A Biweekly Publication of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
VOLUME 43, ISSUE 25 - DECEMBER 16, 2005
03 AIR TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY
Includes passenger and cargo air transport operations; airport ground operations; flight safety and hazards; and aircraft accidents.
Systems and hardware specific to ground operations of aircraft and to airport construction are covered in 09 Research and Support Facilities (Air).
Air traffic control is covered in 04 Aircraft Communications and Navigation.
For related information see also 16 Space Transportation and Safety and 85 Technology Utilization and Surface Transportation.
20050240907 Tennessee Dept. of Transportation, Nashville, TN, USA
Tennessee Long-Range Transportation Plan: 2004 Updated Aviation System Plan
Oct. 2004; 98 pp.; In English Report No.(s): PB2006-101016; No Copyright; Avail.: National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
The Tennessee Department of Transportation desires to incorporate the existing Tennessee Airport System Plan into its Long Range Transportation Plan. HNTB Corporation completed a thorough Tennessee Airport System Plan in 2001. Although the Airport System Plan is only three years old, significant changes in the nature of the aviation industry and a desire for a longer-range planning horizon indicated that the System Plan should be updated at this time. Although the efforts from the 2001 Plan will be used to the extent feasible in this Update, no other mode has been affected as greatly as air transportation in this short three-year timeframe. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the prolonged economic slowdown have resulted in the loss of one major carrier (TWA) and the bankruptcy of two other carriers (United and US Airways). Today, although low cost airlines are leading a general trend toward lower airfares, demand is still languishing. Air cargo is also experiencing a dampening of demand. Recognizing timing and resource limitations as well as the thoroughness of the 2001 plan, the update is streamlined in nature and will only consider the State's six commercial service airports and 14 regional airports. Vertical infrastructure, or heliports, have not been identified for the purpose of this report. The tasks completed for this update included an inventory of facilities, aviation industry review, review and update of previous system plan forecasts, and development plans for each of the 20 airports included in this study. NTIS
Air Transportation; Planning; Transportation
20050242980 Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA USA
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Prototyping a Web-Enabled Decision Support System to Improve Capacity Management of Aviation Training
Bostick, Randall W.; Booth, William D., II; Sep. 1, 2005; 151 pp.; In English; Original contains color illustrations Report No.(s): AD-A439356; No Copyright; Avail.: Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
For organizations with training pipelines, this study offers insights to help identify and minimize undesirable effects that may result from often unavoidable demand variations within a resource-and time-constrained environment. The highly complex Naval aviation training process is used as a case study. However, any organization with a training pipeline may find this study to be useful. Within a training pipeline, like any resource constrained production line, variability may cause undesirable results to occur. Variability includes any change in the number of students to train, time-to-train, instructor availability, material availability, and other supporting factors. Undesirable effects may include delayed time-to-train, wasted valuable resources, reduced morale, reduced quality of training, or an increase in undesirable behaviors as a result of perceived production pressures. Wasted valuable resources can include human capital, money, material, and time. Although other sources of variability will be discussed, this study primarily examines the cause and effect relationships resulting from variations in the number of students to train. Potential solutions are explored. DTIC
Decision Support Systems; Education; Flight Training; Management Systems; Military Aviation; Prototypes; Students
20050243047 Defense Acquisition Univ., Fort Belvoir, VA USA
Military Airlift: C-17 Aircraft Program
Bolkcom, Christopher; Aug. 19, 2005; 22 pp.; In English Report No.(s): AD-A439493; CRS-RL30685; No Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A03, Hardcopy
The C-17 Globemaster III is a long-range cargo/transport aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force since 1993. Congress approved development of the aircraft in the late 1970s, when it was recognized that the Air Force did not have enough airlift capability. In 1981, the McDonnell Douglas C-17 emerged as winner of a competition with Boeing and Lockheed to develop a next-generation aircraft to replace C-130s and C-141s. Full-scale development of the C-17 got underway in 1986, but technical problems and funding shortfalls delayed the program, leading to slipped schedules and increased costs. Despite those difficulties, the C-17 has retained broad congressional support and enjoys strong Air Force and Army backing. Defense officials view the C-17 as essential in the post-Cold War environment, because of its ability to fly long distances with large payloads yet still use smaller bases in remote areas. The C-17 first flew in 1991, about a year later than originally scheduled. Deliveries began in 1993, and in January 1995, the Air Force declared the aircraft fully operational. C-17s have been successfully used in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other operations. Production problems in the late 1980s raised questions about the possibility of more cost-effective alternatives. In April 1990, Defense Secretary Cheney reduced the projected buy from 210 to 120 planes. In late 1993, the Department of Defense (DOD) gave the contractor two years to solve production problems or face termination of the contract, with airlift shortfalls to be filled by modified commercial transport planes or existing military airlifters. By the mid-1990s, the program s earlier difficulties had been largely resolved, although some questioned the number of C-17s to be procured. In 1996, DOD approved plans to order 80 more C-17s for a total of 120 aircraft increased in late 1998 to 134. DTIC
C-17 Aircraft; Transport Aircraft
20050243072 RAND Corp., Santa Monica, CA USA
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Supporting Air and Space Expeditionary Forces: Analysis of Maintenance Forward Support Location Operations
Geller, Amanda; George, David; Tripp, Robert S.; Amouzegar, Mahyar A.; Roll, C. R., Jr; Jan. 1, 2004; 136 pp.; In English; Original contains color illustrations Report No.(s): AD-A439531; RAND/MG-151; No Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A07, Hardcopy
Since 1990, the USA military has been called upon to support crises that range from Operation Desert Storm to humanitarian relief operations. These operations create a diverse and unpredictable set of sortie-generation needs, from air-to-ground combat to the transport of food and supplies. To meet these demands, the Air Force is reorganizing into an Air and Space Expeditionary Force (AEF).
Behind this new vision of force management is the idea that forces able to deploy quickly and frequently from the continental USA can replace the permanent forward presence of airpower that the Air Force employed during the Cold War. However, deploying airpower quickly and frequently strains the Air Force's current combat support system. The original concept of the AEF called for deploying the entire combat and support infrastructure from the continental USA. However, the resources needed to support a combat deployment are heavy, and require significant airlift and time to move to the theater. Furthermore, the need to redeploy the entire support structure with each combat deployment limits flexibility and creates instability among personnel. The Air Force is consequently reexamining its support infrastructure to focus on new goals: faster deployment, reduction in the mass of materiel to move, increased flexibility, and greater personnel stability.
This study examines one potential reconfiguration of the Air Force's current support system: the creation of maintenance Forward Support Locations (FSLs) to consolidate intermediate maintenance near, but not in, the theater of operations. DTIC
Combat; Deployment; Maintenance; Military Operations; Position (Location); Support Systems
20050243232 Army Research Inst. Field Unit, Fort Rucker, AL USA
Developing an Adaptive Intelligent Flight Trainer
Ludwig, Jeremy; Ramachandran, Sowmya; Howse, William R.; Jan. 1, 2005; 6 pp.; In English; Original contains color illustrations Report No.(s): AD-A439799; No Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A02, Hardcopy
Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) seek to mimic the learning improvement provided in a one-on-one tutor/student relationship. To effectively teach to a student, the ITS must adapt to the student's current understanding. Many ITSs judge a student's knowledge by current and historic performance in a subject area. From this information, an ITS can determine a number of facts about the student relevant to tutoring. This current/past performance view of tutoring ignores many aspects particular to a student, which would be useful in teaching (e.g., personality factors, preferred learning style, confidence/ anxiety).
The authors view an adaptive instructional system (AIS) as an extension to an ITS that also takes into account these types of individual trait and state differences. The adaptations used by the AIS have been collected from both relevant literature and interviews with domain experts. Currently, the authors are applying these techniques to extend an ITS for training new helicopter pilots in the Army, where the subject matter experts are helicopter pilots. In current initial entry rotary wing (IERW) training, an instructor pilot (IP) is assigned two students. These two students train in the helicopter with the same IP until they complete the current training phase and check-ride.
Researchers have examined replacing some of the actual flight training with simulation instruction for beginning pilots. The main drawback of this is that an IP is required for all simulator training to ensure that students don't acquire any bad habits. The Intelligent Flight Trainer (IFT) takes the simulator's role in training a step farther. Rather than have IPs train students in the simulator, the IFT takes on the tasks of an instructor pilot. This means that in addition to simulating helicopter flight, the IFT must also perform as an instructor pilot. The IFT consists of a helicopter flight simulator and an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) merged into a single system. DTIC
Education; Expert Systems; Flight Simulators; Flight Training; Helicopters; Training Devices
20050243233 Stottler Henke Associates, Inc., San Mateo, CA USA
Intelligent Simulation-Based Tutor for Flight Training
Remolina, Emilio; Ramachandran, Sowmya; Fu, Daniel; Stottler, Richard; Howse, William R.; Jan. 1, 2004; 14 pp.; In English; Original contains color illustrations Contract(s)/Grant(s): DASW01-01-C-5317 Report No.(s): AD-A439800; No Copyright; Avail.: Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
Today's military flight simulators have dramatically reduced the cost of training by providing cheaper, effective alternatives to training on a real aircraft. However, flight training is still limited by the availability of instructor pilots.
The adage 'practice makes perfect' is nowhere truer than in the learning of psychomotor skills such as flying. Ideally, trainees should be able to practice flying skills on their own to complement instructor-led training. However, most flight simulators do not have any automated assessment and tutoring facilities, making them ineffective as self-paced learning environments.
The Army has funded pioneering research on developing automated tutors for flight training, specifically for training initial-entry rotor-wing pilots. An early rule-based system, called the Intelligent Flight Trainer (IFT), monitored trainees' flight performance and provided adaptive coaching. It provided instructional assistance by regulating the challenge level of a flight task, and through overt spoken feedback to inform trainees when they were flying out of range of specified flight parameters. Evaluations showed that while this system was effective in improving flying skills, it was inflexible in terms of it assessment and instruction strategies.
The Army is currently funding research on a next-generation automatic flight trainer, called AIS-IFT, that improves upon the IFT. AIS-IFT is designed to be flexible and extensible in terms of assessment and tutoring procedures. A visual authoring tool lets Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and course designers modify or create powerful instructional behavior with little programming effort. Whereas the previous effort had the instructional approach embedded deep in the tutoring system, the new approach separates the specific instructional strategies from the ITS infrastructure, thus empowering SMEs and course authors to create a tutor with pedagogy that is customized to their domain. DTIC
Adaptation; Education; Expert Systems; Flight Simulators; Flight Training; Helicopters; Simulation; Training Devices
Source: NASA.
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