SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AEROSPACE REPORTS

A Biweekly Publication of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
VOLUME 44, ISSUE 8 - April 21, 2006

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

20060010887 Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC USA

Federal Aviation Administration Budget in Brief, Fiscal Year 2007

Feb. 2006; 26 pp.; In English Report No.(s): PB2006-107724; No Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A03, Hardcopy

The FAA's efforts over the past three years to operate more like a business have paid real dividends, not just to the flying public but to the taxpayer as well. By implementing improved management tools, including better cost-accounting systems and instituting a pay-for-performance program, we've been able to make better use of our resources. It's paying off, and some tangible results are reflected in this budget request. This year, we completed the largest A-76 competition in government and will see the first installment of cost savings ($66 million) in FY 2007. The agency's network of automated flight services stations, which provide weather guidance and other assistance to the pilots of small airplanes, will be reduced from 58 to 20. The technology at the facilities is being enhanced, and the employees who left federal service as a result of this transition were given offers to work for Lockheed-Martin, the successful bidder for the contract. NTIS

Federal Budgets; Air Transportation; Financial Management

20060010947 Virginia Univ., Charlottesville, VA, USA

Development of Counter Measures to Security Risks from Air Cargo Transport

Rountree, C. D.; Demetsky, M. J.; Jul. 2004; 146 pp.; In English Report No.(s): PB2006-107759; UVACTS-5-14-63; No Copyright; Avail.: National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 displayed the shortcomings of aviation security in the USA. Most of the attention on aviation security since that time has focused on airline passengers, their luggage, and their carry-on items, leaving air cargo security on the back burner.

The lack of security screening and screening guidelines of cargo traveling by both passenger and all-cargo aircraft is the driving purpose behind this research project: the development of a framework that may be used by individual airports or airlines to analyze various security setups for screening outbound air cargo within an on-airport cargo facility. This was accomplished through airport surveys, a case study at an air cargo facility, and computer simulations testing various setups of security technologies to screen cargo within a facility.

Data collected from surveys sent to over 100 of the nation's major airports revealed the lack of security in the air cargo environment and validated the need for this research. Information was obtained on security measures utilized for cargo and personnel, as well as the frequency of cargo screenings and information on the size and setups of cargo facilities. Also, a results comparison between large and small airports was conducted. A case study was performed at a cargo facility within a major U.S. airport in order to gather data pertinent to the simulations used to test the security setups. Information gathered on truck arrivals, the number of flight destinations, security measures in place, as well as the general facility setup was used to form the basis of the simulations.

The simulations, conducted in Arena 7.01, tested the effectiveness and cargo throughput of four security cases. Each case employed a different combination of security measures proven suitable for an air cargo environment. The security setups were evaluated based on the security systems' costs, the overall effectiveness of catching high-risk cargo, and the average amount of time taken to process cargo through the facility. The Arena simulations present airlines, freight forwarders, and airport authorities with the necessary tool to evaluate various cargo security screening measures that will provide the best security solution for their particular facility or facilities. However, further research is needed on the effectiveness of many security technologies.

With this information, government and aviation officials will be able to use this framework as a step toward achieving a well-rounded plan for ensuring the safety and security of our nation's air cargo. NTIS

Air Cargo; Countermeasures; Risk; Security; Transport Aircraft

20060010998 NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA, National Inst. of Aerospace, Hampton, VA, USA

Formal Verification of the Runway Safety Monitor

Siminiceanu, Radu; Ciardo, Gianfranco; April 2006; 28 pp.; In English; Original contains color illustrations Contract(s)/Grant(s): NCC1-02043; 23-065-10-22; Proj. 2204 Report No.(s): NASA/CR-2006-21492; NIA-2005-03; Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A03, Hardcopy

The Runway Safety Monitor (RSM) designed by Lockheed Martin is part of NASA's effort to reduce runway accidents. We developed a Petri net model of the RSM protocol and used the model checking functions of our tool SMART to investigate a number of safety properties in RSM. To mitigate the impact of state-space explosion, we built a highly discretized model of the system, obtained by partitioning the monitored runway zone into a grid of smaller volumes and by considering scenarios involving only two aircraft. The model also assumes that there are no communication failures, such as bad input from radar or lack of incoming data, thus it relies on a consistent view of reality by all participants. In spite of these simplifications, we were able to expose potential problems in the RSM conceptual design. Our findings were forwarded to the design engineers, who undertook corrective action. Additionally, the results stress the efficiency attained by the new model checking algorithms implemented in SMART, and demonstrate their applicability to real-world systems. Author

Avionics; Program Verification (Computers); Runways; Safety; Petri Nets; Protocol (Computers)

20060011013 Civil Aerospace Medical Inst., Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Static Sector Characteristics and Operational Errors

Goldman, Scott; Manning, Carol; Pfleiderer, Elaine; March 2006; 15 pp.; In English; Original contains black and white illustrations Report No.(s): DOT/FAA/AM-06/4; No Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A03, Hardcopy

A study was conducted to determine if static sector characteristics are related to the occurrence of operational errors (OEs) at the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZID). The data consisted of a three-year sample of OEs that had occurred in ZID airspace. Sectors were treated as the unit of analysis (n=40). The static characteristics included: number of major airports, cubic volume in nautical miles, sector strata, number of shelves, number of VORTACs, number of satellite airports, and number of intersections. Pearson correlations revealed that cubic volume in nm (r = -.31, p = .049) and sector strata (r = .31, p = .049) were significantly correlated with the number of OEs. The static sector characteristics were entered into a regression procedure as predictors with the number of OEs as the criterion. The regression analysis produced a model containing cubic volume in nautical miles, number of major airports, and sector strata as significant predictors. This model accounted for 43% of the variance in OEs (R = .65). No other static sector characteristics were significant predictors of OE incidence in this sample. The correlation between cubic volume in nautical miles and number of OEs indicated that, as sector size decreased, the number of OEs increased. However, the predictive utility of cubic volume in nm may be due to underlying dynamic traffic characteristics inherent in different-sized sectors, rather than a direct relationship between sector size and incidence of OEs. This relationship needs to be explored in future research. The regression analysis suggests that static sector characteristics can account for some of the variance in OE occurrence in ZID airspace and, thus, can increase our understanding of the factors that lead to an OE. Author

Errors; Air Traffic Control; Static Characteristics; Airspace; Regression Analysis; Predictions; Correlation

20060011036 NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, USA

Additional Investigations of Ice Shape Sensitivity to Parameter Variations

Miller, Dean R.; Potapczuk, Mark G.; Langhals, Tammy J.; March 2006; 41 pp.; In English; 44th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, 9-12 Jan. 2006, Reno, NV, USA; Original contains color illustrations Contract(s)/Grant(s): WBS 22-077-41-02 Report No.(s): NASA/TM-2006-214227; E-15474; AIAA Paper 2006-0469; Copyright; Avail.: CASI: A03, Hardcopy

A second parameter sensitivity study was conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) using a 36 in. chord (0.91 m) NACA-0012 airfoil. The objective of this work was to further investigate the feasibility of using ice shape feature changes to define requirements for the simulation and measurement of SLD and appendix C icing conditions. A previous study concluded that it was feasible to use changes in ice shape features (e.g., ice horn angle, ice horn thickness, and ice shape mass) to detect relatively small variations in icing spray condition parameters (LWC, MVD, and temperature). The subject of this current investigation extends the scope of this previous work, by also examining the effect of icing tunnel spray-bar parameter variations (water pressure, air pressure) on ice shape feature changes. The approach was to vary spray-bar water pressure and air pressure, and then evaluate the effects of these parameter changes on the resulting ice shapes. This paper will provide a description of the experimental method, present selected experimental results, and conclude with an evaluation of these results. Author

Ice Formation; Airfoils; Gas Pressure; Pressure Ice; Simulation; Sensitivity

Source: NASA