Research into reduction of Loss-of-Control accident rate in a meaningful and measurable way through the use of innovative pilot training techniques

摘要

This research was funded by a number of government and commercially sponsored programs including most notably the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the United States Navy. The paper will provide an overview of the studies which have taken place over a recent sixteen year period along with the conclusions which have been derived regarding training methodologies. It will start by describing the problem of inflight loss of control. It will then provide a synopses of the six specific studies that were undertaken. Finally, it will present observations, conclusions, and recommendations drawn from all the studies. The studies evaluated the training value of Advanced Maneuver & Upset Recovery Training (AM-URT). Two general categories of maneuvers have been evaluated: Unusual Attitude Recovery [UAR] and Upset Event Recovery [UER]. The UAR was a recovery from an attitude defined as a pitch and/or bank angle beyond that normally encountered during line operations. UER was defined as a maneuver where some internal failure or external event caused the aircraft to be upset such that the pilot had to adopt an alternate control strategy in order to make a successful recovery. This testing has shown that in order to execute a successful recovery from a Jet Upset, a pilot must have sufficient situational awareness to be able to recognize the state of the aircraft (i.e. attitude, airspeed, failures, etc.) and sufficient knowledge to know what to do about it. Consequently, this situational awareness is necessary, but not sufficient when it comes to recovering from Jet Upsets. The critical skill set required for a successful recovery includes an alternate control strategy necessary to deal with the upset event itself. A common thread appears in nearly all of the upset-induced accidents that we have studied where the crew was faced with an abnormal or unknown aircraft behavior and conventional techniques proved inadequate. Based on this research, a comprehensive AM-URT program must include not only training in extreme-attitude-flight, but also in analyzing and correcting such an occurrence. It is important to note that the intent is not be to train the pilot to deal with or recover only from specific events or scenarios. The maneuvers trained are intended only as examples of the multitude of events that could be encountered. The broader value of the training would be to teach pilots how to evaluate a never-before-seen situation, adopt the appropriate level of automation, and then correctly execute a recovery. In the end, the goal is to marry expanded situational awareness, knowledge, and judgment with the requisite 'stick and rudder' skill-set necessary to successfully master the many flying challenges faced over a career of line operations.