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Description
The Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program was mandated legislatively, as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. This study replicated earlier research that investigated pilots’ opinions of the current state of the FFDO program based on interviews. A Likert survey was created to allow simpler quantitative collection and

The Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program was mandated legislatively, as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. This study replicated earlier research that investigated pilots’ opinions of the current state of the FFDO program based on interviews. A Likert survey was created to allow simpler quantitative collection and analysis of opinions from large groups of pilots. A total of 43 airline pilots participated in this study. Responses to the Likert questions were compared with demographics, searching for significance through a Pearson chi-square test and frequencies were compared to earlier research findings. Significant chi-square results showed that those familiar with the program were more likely to agree the program should continue, it was effective, the screening and selection process of program applicants was adequate and the Federal Air Marshal Service’s management of the FFDO program was effective. Those with Military experience were more likely to disagree it was reasonable that FFDOs were required to pay for their own room and board during training or train on their own time. All those who shared an opinion agreed there should be a suggestion medium between FFDOs and their management. Unlike the prior study, all those familiar with the program agreed the weapons transportation and carriage procedures were adequate. Furthermore, all those who shared an opinion found the holster locking mechanism adequate, which was another reversal of opinion from the prior study. Similar to the prior study, pilots unanimously agree FFDOs were well trained and agreed that the program was effective and should continue.
ContributorsFerrara, Marc, M.S (Author) / Niemczyk, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
The aviation industry is considered to be the safest when it comes to transportation of people and property. The standards by which companies provide air transportation are held are very high. Nevertheless, a shortage in the number of pilots exists and companies must look for ways to meet demands. One

The aviation industry is considered to be the safest when it comes to transportation of people and property. The standards by which companies provide air transportation are held are very high. Nevertheless, a shortage in the number of pilots exists and companies must look for ways to meet demands. One of the ways to resolve this issue is to introduce unmanned systems on a broader scale – to transport people and property. The public’s perception regarding this issue has not been well documented. This survey identified what the public’s attitude is towards the use of these systems. One hundred fifty-seven people participated in this survey. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine if participant demographics, previous aviation background, and comfort levels were significantly related to various transportation technologies. Those who were comfortable or uncomfortable with self-driving cars kept their same comfort level for other technologies such as drone delivery services. The survey also revealed that the vast majority of respondents did not feel comfortable being a passenger on fully autonomous aircraft. With an overwhelming percentage of society not comfortable with the idea of there being no pilot for the aircraft, it is important for companies working to implement this technology to pay close attention to the public perception of autonomous aircraft.
ContributorsWollert, Matthew Benjamin (Author) / Niemczyk, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Committee member) / Wallmueller, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
Student pilots are the future of aviation and one of the biggest problems that they face as new pilots is fatigue. The survey was sent out asking if student pilots were fatigued, if they attribute flight training, school work, work outside of school, and social obligations to their sleep loss,

Student pilots are the future of aviation and one of the biggest problems that they face as new pilots is fatigue. The survey was sent out asking if student pilots were fatigued, if they attribute flight training, school work, work outside of school, and social obligations to their sleep loss, and how they spend their time on those activities. The survey was given to aviation students at Arizona State University (ASU) Polytechnic Campus. ASU student pilots were found to be fatigued through a single sample t-test. Other t-tests were done on each of the questions that asked student pilots how flight training, school work, work outside of school and social obligations affect their sleep loss. Flight training and school were found to be contributing to student pilots sleep loss. Work outside of school and social obligations were found to not be contributing to student pilots sleep loss. It was found that student pilots’ tendency to use a planner or calendar was found to not be significant. Along with this planning through the week when they will do assignments or study for exams was also not found to be significant. Students making lists of assignments and when they are due was also found to not be significant. The t-test also found that student pilots are neutral on the topic of whether good time management skills would help increase the amount of sleep that they get.
ContributorsHarris, Mariah Jean (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Gray, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
The purpose of this research was to determine if students who are enrolled in a professional flight program exhibit significantly higher rates of depression, stress, and anxiety. This study compared professional flight students to non-professional flight students to determine whether professional flight students have higher rates of depression and anxiety.

The purpose of this research was to determine if students who are enrolled in a professional flight program exhibit significantly higher rates of depression, stress, and anxiety. This study compared professional flight students to non-professional flight students to determine whether professional flight students have higher rates of depression and anxiety. In addition, this study sought to determine if there were higher depression, anxiety, and stress levels in upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) than in lowerclassmen (freshman and sophomore). Finally, upperclassmen and underclassmen within professional flight programs were compared to test if upperclassmen professional flight students exhibit higher rates for depression, anxiety and stress. These groups were compared to each other by using a survey that measures depression, anxiety, and stress. There were no statistically significant results. No singular group is more or less prone to depression, anxiety, or stress.
ContributorsJacobs, Destry (Author) / Niemczyk, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Committee member) / Cline, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
This thesis discusses how American Airlines and its’ wholly owned regional partner Piedmont Airlines could improve schedule options by optimizing its existing operations enabling Piedmont to operate more flights with the same number of airplanes. This thesis uses data exclusively from Piedmont Airlines’ September 2019 Schedule, and focuses on operational

This thesis discusses how American Airlines and its’ wholly owned regional partner Piedmont Airlines could improve schedule options by optimizing its existing operations enabling Piedmont to operate more flights with the same number of airplanes. This thesis uses data exclusively from Piedmont Airlines’ September 2019 Schedule, and focuses on operational improvements through minimizing downtime for aircraft both at hubs and outstations.

In the hubs, it was found that there was significant room for optimization to ensure that the aircraft are truly being used to their full potential versus long ramp wait times between flights. When looking at outstations, planes typically only spent the minimum required amount of time on the ground. The exception is if the plane was going to Remain Overnight (RON), however this also meant it was the last flight of the day, and it arrived in the evening or later. The thesis specifically looks at the flows for the week of September 14-20, 2019.
ContributorsKass, Adam Mitchell (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Wall, Robert (Committee member) / Bookbinder, Evan (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
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Description
The statistical significance of airport environment incidents related to pilot confusion at night was explored. Some articles suggest there is a higher rate of incidents during the day than during the night, while others suggest any low visibility environment will a greater processing time for the brain to react to

The statistical significance of airport environment incidents related to pilot confusion at night was explored. Some articles suggest there is a higher rate of incidents during the day than during the night, while others suggest any low visibility environment will a greater processing time for the brain to react to outside references. Other researchers suggest incidents are not tied to time of day but to time spent looking inside the cockpit compared to outside the cockpit. Using this research and an analyzation of incident reports collected by the Aviation Safety Reporting System, this paper suggests there is a statistically significant relationship between incidents involving pilot confusion on the surface and time of day.
ContributorsWhittard, Megan Colston (Author) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Thesis director) / Kimberly, Jimmy (Committee member) / Aviation Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
There are significantly higher rates of pilot error events during surface operations at night than during the day. Events include incidents, accidents, wrong surface takeoffs and landings, hitting objects, turning on the wrong taxiway, departing the runway surface, among others. There is evidence to suggest that these events are linked

There are significantly higher rates of pilot error events during surface operations at night than during the day. Events include incidents, accidents, wrong surface takeoffs and landings, hitting objects, turning on the wrong taxiway, departing the runway surface, among others. There is evidence to suggest that these events are linked to situational awareness. Improvements to situational awareness can be accomplished through training to instruct pilots to increase attention outside of the cockpit while taxiing at night. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) night time requirements are relatively low to obtain a private pilot certification. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of flight training experience on conducting safe and incident-free surface operations at night, collect pilot opinions on night training requirements and resources, and analyze the need for night time on flight reviews. A survey was distributed to general aviation pilots and 239 responses were collected to be analyzed. The responses indicated a higher observed incident rate at night than during the day, however there were no significant effects of night training hours or type of training received (Part 61, Part 141/142, or both) on incident rate. Additionally, higher total night hours improved pilot confidence at night and decreased incident rate. The overall opinions indicated that FAA resources on night flying were effective in providing support, but overall pilots were not in support of or against adding night time requirements to flight reviews and found night training requirements to be somewhat effective.
ContributorsWhittard, Megan (Author) / Niemczyk, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Committee member) / Hampshire, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
Nicotine and tobacco use, whether it be through cigarette smoking or other devices, creates negative health conditions in pilots. The literature that was reviewed pertained to nicotine withdrawal symptoms and their negative impact on pilot performance. There have been studies conducted in order to explore how these symptoms impact pilot

Nicotine and tobacco use, whether it be through cigarette smoking or other devices, creates negative health conditions in pilots. The literature that was reviewed pertained to nicotine withdrawal symptoms and their negative impact on pilot performance. There have been studies conducted in order to explore how these symptoms impact pilot performance using cigarettes as the only nicotine device and does not specify the nicotine levels or the frequency of use. This thesis extends this work to examine the relationship between the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and the nicotine behaviors of pilots. It was hypothesized that the extent of withdrawal symptoms may differ by device and by nicotine levels and frequency of use, with higher levels and more frequent use being associated with more severe withdrawal symptoms. These behaviors included the device they use to take nicotine whether it be cigarettes, vaporizers, e-cigarettes, or smokeless tobacco. The behaviors also included exploration of how nicotine levels relate to withdrawal symptoms whether the nicotine level is as low as 3mg or high as 36mg. The last relationship that was explored was that between the withdrawal symptoms presented in pilots and how often they used nicotine, whether it be often as every day or less frequent as 1-2 times a year. It was found that there is no statistical relationship between nicotine withdrawal symptoms and the nicotine habits such as device used, nicotine level used, and frequency of use.
ContributorsBartlowe, Halie Marie (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Committee member) / Wende, Anthony (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description

The objective of this thesis is to conduct a case study into the Bell X-2, an early supersonic research aircraft utilizing a modern perspective and computational tools. The Bell X-2 was the second in a series of supersonic research aircraft created by Bell Aviation Corporation, designed to help engineers to

The objective of this thesis is to conduct a case study into the Bell X-2, an early supersonic research aircraft utilizing a modern perspective and computational tools. The Bell X-2 was the second in a series of supersonic research aircraft created by Bell Aviation Corporation, designed to help engineers to explore this new region of flight. The goal of the X-2 was to gather data on high Mach Number and high-altitude flight as well as aerodynamic heating. The X-2 had poor lateral stability resulting in it being unstable at high Mach Numbers and moderate angles of attack. The program was full of new and unforeseen technical challenges resulting in many delays and tragedies. The program ended when stability problems resulted in a fatal crash destroying the aircraft and killing the test pilot. This case study addresses the historical background of the program, human influence, the stability problems encountered and conducting a stability analysis of the aircraft. To conduct the stability analysis, the potential flow solver, VORLAX, was used to gather aerodynamic coefficient data of the X-2 and determine if these stability problems could be determined from the data obtained. By comparing the results from VORLAX to a wind tunnel study, I determined that the poor lateral directional stability and control coupling issues were foreseeable in the initial design.

ContributorsObrien, Kevin (Author) / Takahashi, Timothy (Thesis director) / Nullmeyer, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2021-12