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dc.contributor.advisorR. John Hansman, Jr.en_US
dc.contributor.authorVigeant-Langlois, Laurence, 1974-en_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2005-06-02T18:51:16Z
dc.date.available2005-06-02T18:51:16Z
dc.date.copyright2004en_US
dc.date.issued2004en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17833
dc.descriptionThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 131-138).en_US
dc.description.abstractAdverse weather significantly impacts the safety and efficiency of flight operations. Weather information plays a key role in mitigating the impact of adverse weather on flight operations by supporting air transportation decision-makers' awareness of operational and mission risks. The emergence of new technologies for the surveillance, modeling, dissemination and presentation of information provides opportunities for improving both weather information and user decision-making. In order to support the development of new weather information systems, it is important to understand this complex problem thoroughly. This thesis applies a human-centered systems engineering approach to study the problem of separating aircraft from adverse weather. The approach explicitly considers the role of the human operator as part of the larger operational system. A series of models describing the interaction of the key elements of the adverse aircraft-weather encounter problem and a framework that characterizes users' temporal decision- making were developed. Another framework that better matches pilots' perspectives compared to traditional forecast verification methods articulated the value of forecast valid time according to a space-time reference frame. The models and frameworks were validated using focused interviews with ten national subject matter experts in aviation meteorology or flight operations. The experts unanimously supported the general structure of the models and made suggestions on clarifications and refinements which were integrated in the final models. In addition, a cognitive walk-through of three adverse aircraft-weather encounters was conducted to provide an experiential perspective on the aviation weather problem.en_US
dc.description.abstract(cont.) The scenarios were chosen to represent three of the most significant aviation weather hazards: icing, convective weather and low ceilings and visibility. They were built on actual meteorological information and the missions and pilot decisions were synthesized to investigate important weather encounter events. The cognitive walk-through and the models were then used to identify opportunities for improving weather information and training. Of these, the most significant include opportunities to address users' four-dimensional trajectory-centric perspectives and opportunities to improve the ability of pilots to make contingency plans when dealing with stochastic information.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Laurence Vigeant-Langlois.en_US
dc.format.extent193, 937-944, [6] p.en_US
dc.format.extent14827225 bytes
dc.format.extent14850552 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
dc.subjectAeronautics and Astronautics.en_US
dc.titleHuman-centered systems analysis of aircraft separation from adverse weatheren_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreePh.D.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
dc.identifier.oclc56569975en_US


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