Applying data mining techniques to detect abnormal flight characteristics

摘要

This paper targets to highlight flight safety issues by applying data mining techniques to recorded flight data and proactively detecting abnormalities in certain flight phases. For this purpose, a result oriented method is offered which facilitates the process of post flight data analysis. In the first part of the study, a common time period of flight is defined and critical flight parameters are selected to be analyzed. Then the similarities of the flight parameters in time series . basis are calculated for each flight by using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) method. In the second part, hierarchical clustering technique is applied to the aggregate data matrix which is comprised of all the flights to be studied in terms of similarities among chosen parameters. Consequently, proximity levels among flight phases are determined. In the final part, an algorithm is constructed to distinguish outliers from clusters and classify them as suspicious flights.