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Highlights • Ab initio pilot training for airport and traffic separation procedures is needed. • This study proposes a method for training in a naturalistic simulation environment. • Performance of VFR airport and traffic separation procedures improved after training. • Results can be applied to improve the efficiency and safety of learning to fly. Abstract The purpose was to evaluate a training method for ab initio student pilots to improve situational awareness, performance of airport procedures and of aircraft separation during Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight in a simulated naturalistic environment. Loss of separation between aircraft is a frequent cause of accidents involving instructional flights. There are no established simulator training methods for ab initio student pilots to develop these abilities. This study describes a simulator training method, which is evaluated in a pretest-training-posttest design with 53 ab initio student pilots (23 females) assigned to a training and a control group. The results show that in posttest the training group demonstrated superior situational awareness and performance, and reported lower workload related to airspace monitoring, building a mental picture of the traffic situation, and coordination with other aircraft in the traffic circuit than the control group. Student pilots evaluated the training materials (the flight simulation environment, radio communication, the briefing and the application on the tablet PC) as useful. This study shows benefits of simulator training for traffic conflict avoidance and VFR airport procedures which can be introduced early during the ab initio syllabus. This study provides a safe simulator method that is useful for both, the teaching and the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in arrival scheduling and controller aids for spacing have the potential benefits of reducing aircraft delays and increasing airport arrival throughput. Schedulers use fixed arrival paths to estimate aircraft's time-to-fly and assign them arrival slots based on the required separation with a buffer. Concepts that reduce arrival time uncertainty can take advantage of advanced scheduling with smaller spacing buffers. These concepts have been successfully demonstrated with a handful of near- to midterm traffic demand scenarios and technologies using spacing buffers as low as 0.3 n mile. The analysis published here characterizes the observed arrival spacing behavior of 29 runways at 15 airports in eight of the busiest terminal areas across the United States during 32-60 days worth of traffic. The typical observed instrument arrival buffers ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 n mile would equate to roughly a 10-20 % increase in runway arrival capacity if buffers were reduced to 0.3 n mile. The effect of fixed arrival routing on terminal area flight time was also studied. Most runways studied had a significant path stretch delay. This work estimates that 1-2 rain of this delay could be reduced with precision scheduling, and most of the remaining delay could be absorbed by speed control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a conflict risk assessment model developed for the purpose of airspace tactical planning under the framework for airspace planning and design based on conflict risk assessment. The model is intended for comparison of different alternative flight scheduling scenarios for a given airspace sectorisation, from a risk and safety point of view. Conflict risk is assessed using duration and severity of conflict situation in the observed airspace under given circumstances. The model is based on the assumption that conflict between pair of aircraft exists when either horizontal or vertical separation minima are violated. For the purpose of risk assessment at the tactical planning level, a term “elementary risk” is introduced. It is defined as the ratio between: (1) the surface limited by minimum separation line and function representing the change of aircraft separation and the surface limited by minimum separation and time moments presenting the conflict duration, and (2) abscissa. The risk is then defined as the ratio between the “elementary risk” and the observed period of time. Apart from the risk between aircraft pair, an assessment of the total risk is also considered. A simple illustration of the model application shows that in addition to airspace geometry, the conflict risk between aircraft pair and total conflict risk also depends on traffic demand, aircraft speed, spatial and temporal distribution of traffic in the airspace as well as the applied separation minima. The developed model is intended for use both in en-route as well as terminal airspace and allows for the determination of the most suitable flight schedule which would be balanced with risk and capacity requirements (lower risk, greater capacity). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This research examined individual differences in judgments of the risk of aircraft separation violation. Fourteen controllers were asked to judge the risk of conflict for aircraft pairs varying in geometry and vertical separation. A cluster analysis revealed individual differences in how judgments of conflict risk changed with increased vertical separation. There were no individual differences in conflict risk judgments when vertical separation was 0 ft. However, as vertical separation increased to 2,000 ft and 4,000 ft, some controllers made progressively lower judgments of conflict risk than others. These findings have implications for the design of automation tools and for training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multilayer approach to the prevention of conflicts due to the toss of aircraft-to-aircraft separation that relies on procedures and onboard automation was implemented as part of the Small Aircraft Transportation Systems Higher-Volume-Operations concept. The multitayer system gives pilots support and guidance during the execution of normal operations and advance warning for procedure deviations or off-nominal operations. This paper describes the major concept elements of this multilayer approach to separation assurance and conflict prevention and provides the rationale for its design. All the algorithms and functionality described in this paper were implemented in an aircraft simulation in the Air Traffic Operations Laboratory at NASA Langley Research Center and on the NASA Cirrus SR22 research aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and operational tuning of the instruments and procedures employed in communications-navigation-surveillance (CNS) and air traffic management (ATM) often relies on stochastic simulation techniques. In this paper the application areas of simulation in the CNS/ATM context are reviewed together with the simulation methods that can help solve the main problems encountered, i.e. quick simulation techniques for the simulation of rare events, and the bootstrap technique for the evaluation of the accuracy of the results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]