2026-01-05
Zehra Nur Kurtoğlu et al.
Errors related to human factors remain a leading cause of aviation accidents, with many of these incidents being attributed to pilot performance. A key aspect of pilot performance might be prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember and execute future tasks at the appropriate time. The dynamic and high-demand environment of the cockpit presents significant challenges for pilots' PM, particularly due to high mental workload and the constant need for multitasking. This study investigates the impact of perceived mental workload as consisting of cognitive, emotional, temporal, and performance demands dimensions, and mindfulness on pilots' PM performance. A mindfulness scale specific to piloting was developed to assess its impact on the perceived PM performance of pilots and used alongside another frequently used mindfulness scale. Using a sample of 124 civil aviation licensed pilots, the study employed hierarchical regression models to assess the effect of mental workload, mindfulness, and piloting job-specific mindfulness on PM performance. Results reveal that general mindfulness and piloting job-specific mindfulness positively and significantly predict PM performance, explaining a considerable portion of the variance. The only significant mental workload dimension that was found to be a negative predictor of PM performance was cognitive demands. These findings underscore the importance of cognitive demands, general mindfulness, and piloting job-specific mindfulness affecting pilots' PM performance, with implications for training and safety protocols in aviation.
2025-12-01
Edmund Cho et al.
This study critically examines the Kansai Airports Group’s 44-year Public-Private Partnership (PPP) monopoly-type concession encompassing Kansai International (KIX), Osaka Itami (ITM), and Kobe (UKB) airports. The research uses financial analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, and NPV-at-risk modeling to evaluate how Japan’s fixed-term private monopoly model allocates financial, operational, and environmental risks. In 2015, there were significant developments in the promotion of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Act. It was revised in 2015; as a result, it finds that the underestimated long-term maintenance liabilities, especially Kansai airport (KIX) foundation subsidence, and lacked flexibility to manage exogenous shocks like COVID-19 and Typhoon Jebi. Comparative insights from various global models reveal structural weaknesses in Japan’s legal and institutional frameworks. The study also identifies investment disincentives linked to unclear terminal asset reversion and overly rigid performance monitoring. Drawing on international best practices, the research recommends embedding dynamic risk forecasting tools and renegotiation triggers to create more resilient, adaptive infrastructure concessions in Japan’s aviation sector.
2025-04-29
Rutong Gu et al.
To address the challenges of aviation safety information overload in Pre-flight Information Bulletin (PIB) systems, this study proposes an intelligent classification framework (ERNIE-DPCNN) that integrates knowledge-enhanced semantic representation with a Deep Pyramid Convolutional Network. Traditional systems relying on rule-based filtering mechanisms suffer from inefficiencies in critical information identification and high risks of human misjudgment. The proposed framework achieves breakthroughs through three technical innovations: (1) An aviation domain-adapted ERNIE model is constructed, leveraging phrase-level masking strategies to enhance semantic representation of compound identifiers; (2) A Deep Pyramid Convolutional Network (DPCNN) is designed to extract multi-granularity features via hierarchical convolution-pooling architecture, optimized with residual connections for long-text gradient propagation; (3) The AdamW optimizer is introduced to dynamically adjust learning rates, improving model convergence efficiency. Evaluated on real-world NOTAM records from airlines, the framework achieves a weighted F1-score of 98.8% in binary classification (Flight Advisory/Restriction) and 91.5% in multi fine-grained classification, outperforming baseline models such as ERNIE-CNN and ERNIELSTM. Ablation studies demonstrated the effectiveness of the domain adaptive masking strategy and dynamic learning rate mechanism. The framework provides an interpretable and scalable technical approach for aviation safety information processing, and its hierarchical feature extraction mechanism facilitates the subsequent simplified deployment scenarios of PIB.
2025-04-05
Jarod Hinckley et al.
Abstract Investigations into aviation accidents aim to identify root causes and enhance safety. Despite advancements in safety measures, technology, and education, general aviation accident rates remain stable, with loss of control identified as the leading cause. Spatial disorientation is a significant contributing factor in these incidents, accounting for approximately 10% of general aviation accidents—90% of which are fatal. Addressing spatial disorientation is increasingly critical with the emergence of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles, a sector projected to reach a $30 billion market by 2030. While AAM is expected to transition toward full autonomy, human pilots will operate these vehicles during the early adoption phases, increasing their exposure to spatial disorientation. This research aims to enhance spatial disorientation training through the MOTUS 600 Flight Simulator, incorporating necessary upgrades such as X-Plane virtual simulation software. Various training scenarios have been developed to expose pilots to spatial disorientation effects, including the pitch-up illusion, also known as the somatogravic illusion, graveyard spiral illusion, runway width illusion, and a general motion decoupling illusion. These scenarios integrate task-loading elements such as navigation and air traffic control interactions to simulate real-world challenges. This study details the simulator upgrades and the intended effects of these training methods in mitigating spatial disorientation and improving pilot safety. Keywords: spatial disorientation, Advanced Air Mobility, flight simulator, X-Plane simulation, illusion scenarios.
2025-04-05
David C. Ison
The rise of urban air mobility (UAM) and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft necessitates the development of well-designed vertiports that align with consumer expectations. This study examines consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for vertiport design, amenities, and services to inform infrastructure planning and investment strategies. Using a survey-based quantitative research design, data were collected from 500 participants to assess key factors influencing WTP, including convenience, security measures, service efficiency, and premium offerings. Findings indicate that location accessibility, affordability, and streamlined security procedures are primary determinants of vertiport adoption. While aesthetic and retail enhancements contribute to passenger experience, practical features such as climate control, intuitive wayfinding, and noise reduction were rated as more critical. Additionally, three consumer segments were identified—cost-sensitive users, convenience-oriented users, and premium experience seekers—highlighting the need for tiered service models. The study underscores the importance of integrating vertiport infrastructure with existing transportation networks while ensuring a balance between operational efficiency and passenger comfort. These insights provide guidance for policymakers, UAM operators, and urban planners in designing consumer-centric vertiport systems that enhance market acceptance and financial viability.
2025-02-25
Seda Mumlu Karanfil
As a result of the literature review, it is seen that the safety management system in airline businesses is mostly evaluated with Reason's just culture model. The fact that there is no research examining Patankar and Sabin's (2010) safety culture pyramid on airline operations, except for a study conducted in the field of ground handling services (Poçar, Işık, & Durmaz, 2022), constitutes the importance and unique value of the research. As stated by Poçar et al. (2022), Patankar and Sabin's (2010) safety culture pyramid is not sufficiently included in practice, and this model is important in terms of drawing attention to the impact of employees' safe behaviors on safety culture. In this direction, the SMS instructions, reporting policies and SMS reports of the airline subject to the research were obtained as documents and analyzed. As another stage of the research, it was aimed to evaluate the SMS reports of the airline according to Patankar and Sabin's safety culture pyramid. With this evaluation, content analysis was conducted to determine the step of the airline in the safety pyramid. Unlike previous studies, this study is thought to contribute to the literature by explaining the relationship between reporting culture, safety culture and safety management system and evaluating the reporting in the organization according to Patankar and Sabin's safety culture pyramid.
2025-02-25
Büşra Yıldırım et al.
Safety behaviors in aviation are not limited to technical knowledge and skills in ensuring the safety of flight operations, but also include the attitudes, decision-making processes and collaborations of individuals and teams. In this context, in this study, a bibliometric analysis of publication and citation trends, key concepts and interactions of studies in the field was conducted to identify current and potential trends in aviation and safety behavior-based research, and to explore the intersections between safety behavior and aviation studies and the areas waiting to be explored. The bibliometric analysis using the RStudio-based Biblioshiny program was conducted on 1065 articles retrieved from the Web of Science database. Research shows that continuous training and feedback processes in the aviation industry are effective in increasing the safety awareness of individuals. It also reveales that integrated, long-term approaches should be adopted, supported by training and communication strategies, to ensure measurable improvement of safe behavior in aviation. By providing an in-depth overview of the existing literature at the intersection of aviation and safety behavior studies, this study contributes to the academic debate in this field and provides topics that can be used as a reference source for future research.