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The Flight Operations Risk Assessment System (FORAS) is envisioned as a risk management tool that will enable operators at the safety, flight operations, and dispatch level to monitor and reduce the risks associated with individual flights, as well as the entire flight operation. FORAS will focus on flight operation processes and the initial work will provide a quantitative assessment of risk of controlled flight into terrain and risk of turbulence-related injury. The risk model is based on a large set of possible risk factors roughly classified under the categories of environment (including weather), operator, service provider, flight path, aircraft, cabin, and air handling. We present here a description of progress to date on FORAS, as well as plans for its future development.

This paper presents results of research which considered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) assertion that the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) will be an economical alternative to automobile and airline travel, when considering the economic value of a traveler's time, within a range of mid-length trips. To simulate a likely near-term niche for SATS, performance was studied in the corporate aviation environment, using NASA's metric for overall transportation performance. Travel$ense software was used to examine the costs of traveling on two hypothetical SATS aircraft versus automobile costs and airline fares, net the cost of travelers' time, traveling among a sample of 53 city pairs in the continental United States.

A backward facing step is used to increase the lift to drag ratio of an airfoil with a separation bubble. Three airfoils are tested leading to the conclusion that the step works better for airfoils that have large separation bubbles near the mid-chord. It does not work well for separation bubbles near the leading edge, but has a positive effect for a separation bubble closerto the trailing edge. Results are preliminary and indicate that research is needed to characterize the size and location of the step, as well as the effect of freestream turbulence and Reynolds number.

This paper outlines preliminary results of experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of a free-flight aerial refueling system, called “paradrogue.” Working in close collaboration with Arizona Paradrogue Systems (APS), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is currently conducting a series of low-speed wind tunnel testing along with unsteady CFD simulation in order to qualitatively understand the fundamental aerodynamics of a paradrogue in simplified 2-D model. A particular interest of this research work is to determine horizontal and vertical aerodynamic force components (analogous to “lift” and “drag” forces) as paradrogue’s parachute (fabric) section, called the “canopy,” changes its Angle of Attack (AoA) relative to the free-stream direction. It is important to understand the fundamental aerodynamics of a paradrogue canopy, especially at refueling flight condition, in order to improve the design process of a new paradrogue.

This paper summarizes several years of research which considered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's assertion that the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) will be an economical alternative to automobile and airline travel, when considering the value of travelers' time. Performance was studied in the corporate aviation environment, using NASA's metric for cost effectiveness. Cost, cost effectiveness, and the sensitivity of cost effectiveness to key independent variables were examined. Analyses shed favorable light on NASA's premise.

What was always referred to as pilot error or human error is now considered to be an error by the organization that trained (or failed to train) the operator or front-line person. Although mistakes due to human error will never be completely eradicated, every attempt must be made to reduce these errors to their lowest possible number. Unfortunately, changing human behavior is difficult at best. The typical aviation safety training program does not use all available strategies to make these needed changes in behavior. Even one small omission can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of a training program. Instead of cranking out hour after hour of traditional lecture-type training, changes must be made in methodology and techniques. The training wheel is continually cranked, but whether it does any good is usually “hoped for” and guessed at. Aviation safety training is, for so much time and effort, a failure in motion.

System safety is taught as a discipline in some aeronautical programs. Such a course maybe designed to prepare career-minded aviation students with a solid background to face the technical intricacies of the commercial flight arena. Over the course of the past decade, the complexity of large modern transport category aircraft has grown, and along with that growth the command and control functions built into the avionics and flight control systems have become automatic. Most new pilots entering into the cockpits of these aircraft require an understanding of how to manage these new systems in light of the basic design principles used. One excellent method of providing education for students in aeronautical studies is through courses in system safety and operational risk management (ORM).