United States Department of Transportation
i
The Impact of Training on General Aviation Pilots' Ability to Make Strategic Weather-Related Decisions
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2008-02-01
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By Ball, Jerry
[PDF-1.23 MB]
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Abstract:Inadvertent flight into hazardous weather can have devastating results for general aviation pilots (NTSB, 2005; Goh and Wiegmann, 2001). In fact, weather is the leading cause of fatalities in general aviation. The purpose of this study was to determine if a graphical weather display combined with an instructional training paradigm could improve pilots' ability to maintain a safe flying distance from convective thunderstorm activity. Previous research suggested that giving pilots the ability to see accurately the weather they are flying in and around may tempt some pilots to try to fly through small breaks in the convective activity. Indeed, Beringer and Ball (2004) found that pilots using graphical weather could be classified into two types of users (tactical vs. strategic). Tactical users were those pilots who used the information to try and navigate through or very close to the hazardous weather. Strategic users were those pilots who used the graphical information to plan and maintain a safe distance (20 nautical miles or greater) from the storm. An instructional slide presentation based on the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM, 7-1-27) guidelines was developed with the intent of modifying the behavior of users classified as “tactical.” Fifty-seven general aviation pilots were evaluated on a low-visibility visual flight rules (VFR) scenario where they encountered an encroaching thunderstorm traversing their flight plan. The pilots were separated into two groups, tactical or strategic users, according to how they responded to a simulated scenario of a VFR flight using a graphical weather display. Half of the pilots in each group then received training to see if it would decrease the incidence of tactical usage. Additionally, a control group was evaluated that flew the multifunction display without the graphical weather information. The hypothesis that training would improve the tactical pilots' ability to maintain a safe flying distance was supported. The analyses indicate that training lowered the tactical users from 100% tactical usage down to 44% tactical usage. It also significantly increased the average distance tactical users flew from the thunderstorm from 10.2 miles (SD = 4.0) to 31.3 miles (SD = 18.2); t (8.76) = -3.401, p< .008 (equal variances not assumed). The strategic and tactical untrained user groups were not significantly different from their respective control group (no training and no graphical weather) on how close they flew to the weather or cells.
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