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STUDY TO DETERMINE THE IFR OPERATIONAL PROFILE AND PROBLEMS OF THE GENERAL AYIATION SINGLE PILOT Stacy Weislogel The Ohio State University ABSTRACT A study of the general aviation single pilot operating under instrument flight The objectives rules (GA SPIFR) has been conducted for NASA Langley Research Center.
of the study were to (1) develop a GA SPIFR operational profile, (2) identify problems experienced by the GA SPIFR pilot, and (3) identify research tasks which have the potential for eliminating or reducing the severity of the problems. To obtain the information necessary to accomplish these objectives, a mail questionnaire survey Complete questionnaire data is reported of instrument rated pilots was conducted.
in NASA CR-165805, "Statistical Summary: Study to Determine the IFR Operational Profile and Problems of the General Aviation Single Pilot" (ref. 1). Based upon the results of the GA SPIFR survey, this final report presents the general aviation IFR single pilot operational profile, illustrates selected data analysis, examples, identifies the problems which he is experiencing, and recommends further research.
INTRODUCTORYCQMMENTS Perhaps a few preliminary comments are in order before we get too far along.
First, let's define'GA ‘SPIFR: "A general aviation IFR fl,ight operation which requires, by Federal Aviation Regulation or company policy, that only one instrument rated pilot perform all of the piloting functions.
If another person is on board (instrument rated pilot or not) and assisting (with communications and navigation, for example), it is still considered a single pilot IFR operation."
Second, I am reporting to you the results of a survey, so that the operational problems that we have identified are the result of the pilot's personal perceptions of his problems. The relative importance of these perceptions must be weighed against the findings of other GA SPIFR problem identification efforts. Remember, however, that what the pilot perceives the real world to be is the real world to him, and he acts upon those perceptions as if they are real whether or not they are real in fact.
Third, as experienced researchers, many of you will not experience, overall, any revelations in the findings - indeed, it may be that instead you are seeing numbers to support your intuitive feel for GA SPIFR operational problems.
BACKGROUND There are about 827,000 pilots, 260,000 (31%) of whom have instrument ratings.
As you are surely aware,, general aviation's participation in IFR fl,ight operations has been impressive, Instrument operations at airports with FAA Traffic Control Service included 11 million air carrier and 20 million general aviation operations in 1980. By 1992 the FAA forecasts 13 million air carrier instrument operations (a 21% increase) and 31 million general aviation instrument operations (a 56% increase).
The number of instrument rated pilots is expected to increase 48% during the same period, Presently, many GA SPIFR operations are conducted by highly trained and experienced pilots flying modern, well equipped airplanes. However, a proportion of the general aviation IFR operations involves relatively inexperienced single pilots, often having limited equipment, who are expected to perform in the system at the same level of competency as the professional air carrier crews, As you know, concern has been expressed by aviation agencies and user organizations that the level of competency expected to be demanded of the future SPIFR will not be attained unless significant improvements in the design of the aviation system are achieved.
It is my opinion that because NASA sincerely believes that there should be a place for the GA SPIFR in the system of the future, NASA LaRC initiated a research program which has as its objective "to provide the background research and develop the technology required to improve the safety and utility of single pilot general aviation aircraft operating under instrument flight rules." An important element of this research program is problem identification, The GA SPIFR problems identified then become the bases for future NASA GA research.
SPIFR RESEARCH OBJECTIVES As part of the problem identification effort, NASA LaRC retained the services of The Ohio State University Department of Aviation to conduct a questionnaire survey of instrument rated pilots. The objectives of this research are:
FIRST, TO o DEVELOP AN OPERATIONAL PROFILE OF THE
GA WGLE PILOT OPERATINGIFR
AND SECOTJD, TO o IDENTIFY AREASFOR RESEARCH
SPIFR RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY The Research Methodology. has three elements:
FIRST, TO e CONDUCT MAIL QUESTIONNAIRE
SURVEY FOR INSTRUMENT RATED
PILOTS
SECOND,TO o DEVELOP A GA SPIFR DATA BASE
o ANALYZEDATA BASE
AND THIRD, TO
DEVELOP GA SPIFR OPERATIONAL PROFILE
IDENTIFY RESEARCH TOPICS
and the project is discussed in reference 2.
The research is complete, ,, , I, .I, . ,,-., , ,, , , ,., , ,,,-,-. , , ,, , ,, . . . .. ..-.-_.-. ..- --.__.- .- .._ -..~ , , , , I I I ,111I, I, I I. I, I II 1.11, 111 I I QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED OF THE GA SPIFR DATA BASE In addition to the profile of the typical GA SPIFR, what else have we learned from the survey?
Well, o,ne thing we have learned is that we can ask the GA SPIFR data base questions and get answers.
QUERY 1: IS THE TASK OF TUNING COMMUNICATIONS AND
NAVIGATIONRADIOSA MAJORPROBLEM OR
DISTRACTION?
CONCLUSION: THE TASK OF TUNING COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION
RADIOS IS CLEARLYIDENTIFIABLE AS A PROBLEM IN
THE RESPONSES, ALTHOUGH ON THE BASIS OF SPECIFIC
RESPONSES (RATHERTHAN A GENERAL PROBLEM
RESPONSE LIKE "WORKLOAD"), IT DOESNOT APPEAR
TO BE A MAJORPROBLEM OR DISTRACTION, RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OPERATIONAL PROBLEMSAND EXPERIENCE Another query resulted in an interesting hypothesis.
QUERY 7: ARE THE OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED
BY THE SPIFR INDEPENDENT OF EXPERIENCE?
CONCLUSION: BASEDUPONTHIS ANALYSIS, WHICHREVEALS THE
RELATIVELY HIGH COMMONALITY OF RESPONSE CODES
REPORTED BETWEEN CATEGORIES OF PILOTS OF
DIFFERENTEXPERIENCE LEVELS, IT APPEARS THAT
THE OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY THE
SPIFR ARE INDEPENDENT OF EXPERIENCE, IF THIS
HYPOTHESIS IS VALID, THEN IT IS SUGGESTED
THAT REMEDIES TO SPIFR OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS
DO NOT LIE IN IMPROVING SPIFR CAPABILITIES
THROUGH MORE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE, RATHER,
THE NATURE OF THE SPIFR TASK SHOULD BE CHANGED
THROUGH THE REDESIGN OF COCKPITSYSTEMS AND
ATC PROCEDURES IN HANDLINGTHE SPIFR, GA SPIFR PROBLEMAREAS One way in which an insight can be gained into what areas trouble the GA SPIFR and in what priority is-to rank order Questions 13 through 21 by percentage of respondents supplying a usable problem answer. The questions permitted the respondent to state the most common problem encountered in each of these nine areas:
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
SUPPLYINGUSABLE
PROBLEM ARE& PROBLEM ANSW
QUESTION
13 INSTRUMENT APPROACHES 51%
WEATHER INFORMATION 51
14 COCKPITENVIRONMENT 48
21 COMMUNICATIONS 44
20 WEATHER ENCOUNTERS
17 TRAINING AND PROFICIENCY 36
15 NAVIGATION 31
16 OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES 24
18 AIRPLANE STABILITY AND CONTROL
GA SPIFR PROBLEMSREPORTEDBY MORE THAN 10% OF.THE RESPONDENTS Another approach to identifying GA SPI‘FR operational problems is to look at the top problem code r.esponses appearing in Questions 13 through 21. Those reported by more than 10% of the respondents are:
PERCENT
PROBLEM
OF
QUESTION LODE-RESPONDENTS s
13 04 15% ATC DEMANDS
14 01
14 INADEQUATE LIGHTING
19 05
12 RELIABILITY OF FSS
WEATHER INFORMATION
14 02 11 HIGH CABIN NOISE LEVEL
MOST COMMON ERROR MADE BY THE GA SPIFR A third approach is to inspect the most frequent responses within a question and aggregate them into another descriptive category. For example, the top three responses to Question 3 can be combined into a category of "Pilot Judgment and which accounts for 35% of the responses to the question "What Decision Making," is the most common error made by IFR single pilots?”
QUFSTION3
IN YOUROPINION, WHATIS THE MOSTCOMMON ERROR MADEBY IFR
SINGLE PILOTS?
PROBLEM
NUMBER PERCENT
FRROR DESCRIPTION CODF
266 16%
NOT PLANNINGAHEAD
(02)
OVERCONFIDENCE IN BEING ABLE TO
(06)
185 11
HANDLE WEATHER
EXCEEDING PERSONAL CAPABILITIES
(01)
92 07
(04) MISUNDERSTANDING ATC
90 06
(20) VIOLATING MINIMUMS
MOST SERIOUS PROBLEMENCOUNTERED AS A GA SPIFR An inspection of the most frequent responses to a particular question without aggregating the responses is also instructive in gaini,ng insights into GA SPIFR operational problems,, For example, in Question 4 the respondent had an opportunity to report the one most serious problem which he had 'encountered in his experience as a GA SPIFR.-
PERCENT OF
MOSTSERIOUSPROBLEM ENCOUNTERED
RW’ONDENTS &S A GA SPIFR
16% ICING
07 THUNDERSTORMS
07 UNFORECAST/UNANTICIPATED WEATHER
WORKLOAD
LACK OF PROFICIENCY
Another approach is to inspect the most frequent responses between questions and aggregate them into another descriptive category.
For example, the two most frequent responses to Question 4, "What has been the one most serious problem which you have encountered in your experience as an IFR sins pilot?" and Question 20, "Weather Encounters" were icing and thunderstorms. Weather rcoorting information can be considered of concern to the GA SPIFR when the responses to Questions 4, 6, 7, 19, and 20 are aggregated.
ONE CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM WHICH WOULDMAKE GA SPIFR FLIGHT OPERATIONS EASIER The GA SPIFR’s perception about the one change in the system which would make his SPIFR flight operations easier also provides an-insight into his opera_tional problems.
QUFSTION7
WHAT m CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM(E,G,, ATC, REGULATIONS,
PROCEDURES, WEATHER DISSEMINATI3N), YOURAIRPLANE AND
EQUIPMENT,OR FLIGHT TRAINING, WOULD MAKEYOUR IFR SINGLE
PILOT FLIGHT OPERATIONS EASIER?
,VJMBER PERCENT
CODE
(40) BETTER, MORE TIMELY WEATHER INFORMATION 119 07x
(14) USE AUTOPILOT 102 06%
(52) MORE STRINGENTINSTRUMENT RATMG
REQUIREMENTS 73 057,
(16) WEATHER INFORMATION THROUGH ATC 66 04%
(08) REQUIREACTUAL IFR TRAINING 034
AREAS OF POTENTIAL GA SPIFR RESEARCH As a result of our work with the survey data, these'broad areas of GA SPIFR research emerge from our analyses as having the greatest potential for improving the safety and utility of the single pilot general aviation aircraft operating under instrument flight rules.
WORKLOAD
PILOT JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING
INSTRUMENT APPROACHES
WEATHER INFORMATION
COCKPITENVIRONMENT
COMMUNICATIONS
PILOT WORKLOAD Workload reduction will result in increasing the effectiveness and safety of the Documentation and analysis of actual pilot performance and GA SPIFR operation.
workload during IFR flight using conventional cockpit displays and autopilots is required to provide baseline data against which to compare advanced control and display concepts.
PILOT JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING Improving pilot judgment and decision making with respect to his ability to plan ahead and more accurately assess his own capabilities and limitations is another means of increasing the effectiveness and safety of the GA SPIFR. 'This requires that the GA SPIFR’s psychological state and the nature and quality of information Although the Federal available and being used by him be defined and characterized.
Aviation Administration has recently begun to study the topic of pilot judgment, the research has not been focused on the GA SPIFR.
INSTRUMENT APPROACHES The two problem areas troubling the greatest number of respondents were instrument approaches , with emphasis on workload, and weather information, with emphasis on improving its availability, reliability, and timeliness.
Automatic flight control systems , advanced cockpit displays, and the development of GA SPIFR oriented ATC procedures are potential areas of research which can contribute to the reduction of workload during the approach phase of a GA SPIFR instrument flight.
WEATHER INFORMATION An investigation of improved preflight and inflight weather information dissemination methods to improve the availability, reliability,and timeliness of weather information for the GA SPIFR also emerges as a recommended area of research.
COCKPIT ENYIRONMENT Improving the cockpit environment is of considerable interest to the GA SPIFR.
It seems that a modest research effort could produce information useful in improving the cockpit environment with respect to improved lighting and noise protection.
COMMUNICATIONS The GA SPIFR also has a high interest in reduci.tig the radio communications workload, in terms of both too many frequency'changes and excessive communications.
Research into more efficient frequency assignment methods, automatic frequency switching, and improved information transfer methods has the potential for alleviat- ing this concern of the GA SPIFR.
FSS WEATHER BRIEFING INADEQUACIES It is interesting to note that certain of the needed areas of research which have emerged from the GA SPIFR study-have been independently identified as needing In addition to the FAA's research interest in pilot judgment, attention by others.
the NTSB in August 1981 issued a Special Investigation Report on FSS weather briefing inadequacies (NTSB-SIR-81-3) (ref. 3). The board found that in a significant number of fatal weather related accidents, pertinent weather information was not made available to pilots during weather briefings.
COCKPIT NOISE The NTSB has also determined that cockpit noise levels interfering with direct voice communications aboard commercial aircraft were a factor in commercial aircraft accidents, and it has asked FAA to establish maximum cockpit noise levels in commercial aircraft. Perhaps this recommendation also has validity with respect to the GA SPIFR operation (ref..4).
AIAA PAPER The GA SPIFR survey research has generated three publicatio0s. The first was an AIAA paper presented at the Aircraft Systems and Technol,ogy Meeti,ng in Dayton, OH, August 11, 1981 (ref. 5).
STATISTICAL SUMMARY A statistical summary report prepared for NASA Langley, contains raw data, frequency counts, and frequency distributions of data from the GA SPIFR survey (ref. 1).
FINAL REPORT A final report on the IFR operational profile and problems of the GA single pilot has been prepared (ref. 2). This report contains the GA SPIFR operational profile, selected data analysis examples, problem identification, and recommended research. All 1980 usable questionnaires and the 231 unusable responses are on file at LaRC. Further, two magnetic data tapes have been prepared, one containing data from the 1980 usable questionnaires returned, the other containing data from the 1619 questionnaires forming the GA SPIFR data set. Interested organizations and individuals may obtain copies of the data tapes from NASA LaRC.
REFERENCES
1. Weislogel, G. S.; and Chapman, G. C.: Statistical Summary: Study to Determine
the IFR Operational PFofile of the General Aviation Single Pilot. NASA CR-165805, May 1982.
2. Weislogel, G. S.: Study to Determine the IFR Operational Profile and Problems
of the General Aviation Single Pilot. NASA CR-3576, 1983.
3. Special Investigation Report: Flight Service Station Weather' Briefing Inade-
quacies. NTSB-SIR-81-3, National Transportaion Safety Board, Aug. 1981.
4. Aviation Intelligence. Cockpit Noise Is a New Target for NTSB Recommendations.
Business & Commercial Aviation Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 4, Oct. 1981, p. 50.
5.
Weislogel, G. S.; and Bergeron, H. P.: The General Aviation Single Pilot IFR
Operation.
AIAA Paper No. 81-1644, 1981.
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Federal Aviation Administration, Dec. 1980.
Forsyth, D. L., and Shaughnessy, J. D.: Single Pilot IFR Operating Problems
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