Pilot Study of the OSE of the GTG and NCV Products
Background
This is a summary of the evaluations that were conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC) Weather Team in regards to the Operational Suitability of the Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG) weather product. Their main objective was to asses any of the GTGs potential issues, if used as a primary product for pilot flight planning under both pre-flight and in-flight conditions.
Methodology
The FAA’s design approach to this evaluation was to measure the degree pilots perceived the GTG product in supporting flight planning. They were given hypothetical flight routes using defined departure and arrival points. The routes or scenarios may have required deviations and/or adjustments due to the effects of turbulence impacts in their planning. Archived weather information sources specific to turbulence (i.e. TANGO AIRMETS) as well as weather information specific to the geographical area of flight, such as Area Forecasts (FAs), satellite depictions, NEXRAD etc., were available to the pilots under both pre-flight and in-flight conditions.
CGAR Involvement
The FAA had requested the involvement of CGAR at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU) Daytona Beach campus as the lead investigator, to assist in the gathering and coordinating of pilots for this study. Steven Abreu-Hill, Graduate Assistant (GA) under the supervision of Dr. Steven Hampton, Executive Director of CGAR, was given the position of carrying out this task. The GA needed to involve other universities within the CGAR organization. Pilots from ERAU’s Daytona Beach, FL and Prescott, AZ campuses, as well as The University of North Dakota (UND) were used, in order to reach the FAA’s goal of completing the GTG study. CGAR’s commitment to the FAA was to gather at least 28 pilots (14 experts and 14 novices). The remaining 12 pilots would be gathered by the FAA.
The Points of Contact (POC) for ERAU’s Prescott, AZ campus were Sean Jeralds, and Chris Liebmann, and at UND, Professor Doug Marshall and Johnene Vardamin. The use of emails and phone calls became the primary form of communication between the lead university and the POCs. All three universities were utilized by the FAA to conduct their evaluations.
Results
As mentioned above the evaluations were conducted at both, ERAU’s Daytona Beach and Prescott campus, as well as UND’s campus. A small room was designated by each POC to accommodate to the evaluators’ needs. A total of 26 pilots were gathered from all three universities (14 experts and 12 novices), all of which were compensated for their time. Table 1 provides a matrix of the pilots who participated at each university.
Two researchers from the WJHTC Weather Group traveled to each school during a three week period. The first evaluations were conducted at ERAU’s Daytona Beach campus from September 5-7. A total of 9 pilots (5 experts and 4 novices) were originally committed to the study, however, one more pilot was able to participate increasing the participant size to 9 pilots (5 experts and 4 novices).
The second week of evaluations was conducted at ERAU’s Prescott, AZ campus from September 11-13. The original commitment from this campus was 10 pilots (5 experts and 5 novices). The total number decreased to 9 pilots (5 experts and 4 novices) due to scheduling conflicts.
Lastly, the third week was wrapped up at UND from September 18-20. Ten pilots (5 experts and 5 novices) were originally committed for the study, however, a total of 8 participated (4 experts and 4 novices).
Discussion
At the conclusion of the GTG product evaluation, the overall outcome was favorable for both the FAA and the pilots who participated. The two evaluators from the FAA were pleased with the facilities that were provided and were accommodated to the best of their needs. The pilots who participated, were pleased to be a part of this project and found that the evaluations were beneficial to their aviation experiences. If they were given the option to do another evaluation similar to the GTG, a favorable amount would be more than willing to participate. The POCs from both, ERAU’s Daytona Beach, Fl and Prescott, AZ campuses as well as UND, were also pleased to be given the opportunity to assist the FAA in their research efforts.
An Internal Review Board (IRB) packet was submitted to each university that described in detail the evaluation process as well as the questions and scenarios that were given to each pilot. This was necessary to ensure that the participants were not harmed in any way.
Being that this study was an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle each pilot who participated was compensated for their time during the evaluation. Most were given a stipend pay and those who were Instructor Pilots (IPs) or faculty members were handled through a payroll adjustment.
Limitations
A total of 40 pilots were required by the FAA in order to have a valid evaluation of the GTG weather product. The pilot requirements that the FAA gave, posed a problem in the coordination efforts. It became difficult to find the total quantity of pilots desired, as the universities were limited to only IP’s and faculty members.
The timing of the evaluation was not as favorable as it would have liked to be. For each week, two days were designated for travel leaving only three days to do the evaluations. This also created some conflict with the scheduling of the pilots. The evaluation was also during the fall semester when classes are in progress. Most of the faculty and IPs had students or courses that needed to be taught, so this limited their time to participate. This was the problem that occurred at ERAU’s Prescott, AZ and UND’s campus, which explains why they fell short of their total commitment figure. As a result, CGAR provided 26 out of 28 pilots to the FAA for the GTG weather product evaluation.
Conclusion
Overall, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center Weather Sensors Group, Operational Suitability Evaluation (OSE) of the Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG) weather product was a success. Through the coordination efforts from the Center of Excellence of General Aviation Research and the involvement of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, FL and Prescott, AZ campuses as well as The University of North Dakota, the FAA was able to conduct their evaluations in a timely manner. Out of the 40 pilots, a total of 26 participated from the three universities. The recommendations that were made by each of the schools should be considered when planning for the next evaluation.