Improving flight safety through analysis of spatial disorientation incidents

Transcription

1 Improving flight safety through analysis of spatial disorientation incidents Crown Copyright/MOD 2013 Presenter: Tracy Grimshaw Co-authors: Dr. Rollin Stott Dr. Andrew Belyavin Crown Copyright/MOD 2013 Crown Copyright/MOD

2 Disclosure Information 83rd AsMA Annual Scientific Meeting Tracy Grimshaw I have no financial relationships to disclose. I will not discuss off-label use or investigational use in my presentation

3 Background to UK MOD research Accidents involving SD as a factor have had a higher incidence of fatalities and total loss of aircraft, compared to those where SD was not a factor Prior to current programme, there was no real understanding of the type or frequency of disorientation that pilots were actually experiencing e.g. recognised vs unrecognised Tri-service survey initiated fundamental premise: if you understand the type of disorientation incident that pilots are experiencing in-flight you can better identify potential countermeasures 3

4 Orientation Incident Survey Tool Anonymous Either you became confused about the attitude or position of your aircraft Or you suddenly became aware that your aircraft attitude/position was not what you had expected it to be Aircrew rate each incident as minor, significant or severe Incident 1: Date of incident: Total hours flown at time of incident: Crew capacity or role: Hours flown on aircraft type at time of incident: Aircraft type: Severity (tick): MINOR SIGNIFICANT SEVERE Description: How helpful was training in spatial disorientation in the recognition of and recovery from this incident? (tick): Background Information: Essential What type of spatial disorientation training had you had prior to this incident? (tick): Checklist: Has your account of this incident included the following? Environmental conditions (including brownout); Lecture The aircraft manoeuvre involved; Ground demo Aircraft factors (e.g. 4

5 Orientation Incident Survey Tool Analysis by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to determine the contributory factors Environmental Factors Manoeuvre Factors Pilot Factors Aircraft Factors Alerting Factors Also, whether the incident was recognised disorientation or unrecognised disorientation 5

6 Data analysis 304 disorientation incidents associated with fast-jet and rotary-wing aircraft Aim to determine whether there was a relationship between the factors associated with each incident and its severity rating / unrecognised disorientation classification Caveats Data collected from different platforms across different time periods, therefore not feasible to analyse factors across time Insufficient numbers to enable any comparisons of factors across platform types 6

7 Results - Fast jet severe and unrecognised incidents Significant correlations: 1.Combat flying 2.Distraction within the aircraft 3.Lack of pilot experience 4.Flying at dusk 5.Low level abort 6.Altitude indicator as alerting factor 7

8 Results - Rotary wing severe and unrecognised incidents Significant correlations: 1.Pilot fatigue 2.Crew as alerting factor 3.Altitude indicator as alerting factor 8

9 Additional results Some factors showed negative associations with severe and unrecognised disorientation i.e. these factors are associated with minor and recognised disorientation incidents: Fast jet: 1.Cloud 2.Attitude indicator as alerting factor Rotary: 1. Formation flying 2. Dusk 3. External distraction 9

10 Discussion Several factors highlighted Must not assume that those factors that have not shown strong associations with unrecognised SD and severe SD are relatively unimportant Also important to look at factors not found to have significant relationships with severe/ unrecognised disorientation e.g. NVG use Only one reference to illusion 10

11 Example incident report How tall are these trees? 11

12 Benefits of this work Use of existing military simulators to conduct scenariobased disorientation training MOD disorientation simulator scenarios and SD training Two booklets have been developed, based on the incident reports, to provide an overview of factors involved in disorientation: Fast Jet Rotary Wing 12

13 Summary Advantages of the survey design Next steps - conduct the next survey to capture incidents To include multi-engine aircraft By tracking the number and type of SD incidences over several years, patterns and trends can be identified, and potential countermeasures can continue to be identified 13

14 Questions? Contact: Tracy Grimshaw Crown Copyright/MOD