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Safety
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Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and...
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Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence

A special issue of Safety (ISSN 2313-576X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 37160
Submit your paper and select the Journal “Safety” and the Special Issue “Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence” via: https://susy.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload/dceed4dddcd5d4c41f85ee01f2a34029?journal=safety. Please contact the guest editor or the journal editor ([email protected]) for any queries.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mickaël Causse

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
ISAE-SUPAERO, University of Toulouse, 31000 Toulouse, France
Interests: neuroergonomics; human factors; aviation safety; attention; cognitive performance
Prof. Dr. Don Harris

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK
Interests: human factors; safety; aviation; automotive; defence
Dr. Caroline P. Carvalho Chanel

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
ISAE-SUPAERO, University of Toulouse, 31000 Toulouse, France
Interests: robotics; UAV; planning; optimization; embedded systems programming; tracking; algorithms; computer engineering; information and communication technology; mobile robotics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

Despite the spectacular decline in accidents over the last 50 years, reaching maximum safety levels remains a major issue for air transport as people are less and less tolerant to fatal accidents. Promoting performance and limiting human errors remains at the heart of the continuous improvement of flight safety. Many techniques and concepts have emerged in recent years; this Special Issue will deal with novel theoretical and practical topics for improving aviation safety related to neuroergonomics, human factors, Artificial intelligence, and Human-Machine interaction.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not restricted to:

  • Crew physical and mental monitoring (fNIRS, EEG, eye tracking…)
  • Human cognitive performance and emotional aspects
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Single pilot operations
  • Onboard assistants
  • Selection and training
  • AI-based cockpit
  • New simulation and training means
  • Virtual reality

Prof. Dr. Mickaël Causse
Dr. Caroline P. Carvalho Chanel
Prof. Dr. Don Harris
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Safety is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Human factors
  • Aviation safety
  • Neuroergonomics
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Human machine interaction

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2779 KiB  
Article
Air Force Pilot Expertise Assessment during Unusual Attitude Recovery Flight
by Gianluca Borghini, Pietro Aricò, Gianluca Di Flumeri, Vincenzo Ronca, Andrea Giorgi, Nicolina Sciaraffa, Claudio Conca, Simone Stefani, Paola Verde, Angelo Landolfi, Roberto Isabella and Fabio Babiloni
Safety 2022, 8(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety8020038 - 13 May 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4314
Abstract
Pilot training and expertise are key aspects in aviation. A traditional way of evaluating pilot expertise is to measure performance output. However, this approach provides a narrow view of the pilot’s capacity, especially with regard to mental and emotional profile. The aim of [...] Read more.
Pilot training and expertise are key aspects in aviation. A traditional way of evaluating pilot expertise is to measure performance output. However, this approach provides a narrow view of the pilot’s capacity, especially with regard to mental and emotional profile. The aim of this study is hence to investigate whether neurophysiological data can be employed as an additional objective measure to assess the expertise of pilots. In this regard, it has been demonstrated that mental effort can be used as an indirect measure of operator expertise and capacity. An increase in mental effort, for instance, can automatically result in a decrease in the remaining capacity of the operator. To better investigate this aspect, we ask two groups of Italian Air Force pilots, experienced (Experts) and unexperienced (Novices), to undergo unusual attitude recovery flight training simulations. Their behavioral (unusual attitude recovery time), subjective (mental effort demand perception) and neurophysiological data (Electroencephalogram, EEG; Electrocardiogram, ECG) are collected during the entire flight simulations. Although the two groups do not exhibit differences in terms of unusual attitude recovery time and mental effort demand perception, the EEG-based mental effort index shows how Novices request significantly higher mental effort during unusual conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence)
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24 pages, 1615 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Aircraft Engine Blade Inspection Performance Using Attribute Agreement Analysis
by Jonas Aust and Dirk Pons
Safety 2022, 8(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety8020023 - 29 Mar 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5779
Abstract
Background—Visual inspection is an important element of aircraft engine maintenance to assure flight safety. Predominantly performed by human operators, those maintenance activities are prone to human error. While false negatives imply a risk to aviation safety, false positives can lead to increased maintenance [...] Read more.
Background—Visual inspection is an important element of aircraft engine maintenance to assure flight safety. Predominantly performed by human operators, those maintenance activities are prone to human error. While false negatives imply a risk to aviation safety, false positives can lead to increased maintenance cost. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the human performance in visual inspection of aero engine blades, specifically the operators’ consistency, accuracy, and reproducibility, as well as the system reliability. Methods—Photographs of 26 blades were presented to 50 industry practitioners of three skill levels to assess their performance. Each image was shown to each operator twice in random order, leading to N = 2600 observations. The data were statistically analysed using Attribute Agreement Analysis (AAA) and Kappa analysis. Results—The results show that operators were on average 82.5% consistent with their serviceability decision, while achieving an inspection accuracy of 67.7%. The operators’ reproducibility was 15.4%, as was the accuracy of all operators with the ground truth. Subsequently, the false-positive and false-negative rates were analysed separately to the overall inspection accuracy, showing that 20 operators (40%) achieved acceptable performances, thus meeting the required standard. Conclusions—In aviation maintenance the false-negative rate of <5% as per Aerospace Standard AS13100 is arguably the single most important metric since it determines the safety outcomes. The results of this study show acceptable false-negative performance in 60% of appraisers. Thus, there is the desirability to seek ways to improve the performance. Some suggestions are given in this regard. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence)
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16 pages, 370 KiB  
Article
Degraded States of Engagement in Air Traffic Control
by Yannick Migliorini, Jean-Paul Imbert, Raphaëlle N. Roy, Alex Lafont and Frédéric Dehais
Safety 2022, 8(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety8010019 - 8 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4543
Abstract
Safety studies have identified attention as a recurring cause of incidents and accidents in air traffic control. However, little is known of the precise attentional states that lead to degraded ATC performance. Therefore, we surveyed 150 French en route air traffic controllers on [...] Read more.
Safety studies have identified attention as a recurring cause of incidents and accidents in air traffic control. However, little is known of the precise attentional states that lead to degraded ATC performance. Therefore, we surveyed 150 French en route air traffic controllers on the causes of and impacts on perceived cooperation, safety, and performance of seven degraded attentional states from the literature: task-related and task-unrelated mind wandering, mental overload, inattentional deafness and blindness, attentional entropy, and perseveration. Our findings indicated that task-related and task-unrelated mind wandering were the most prevalent but had the least impact on perceived safety. Conversely, inattentional blindness and attentional entropy were less reported but were considered a significant safety concern, while inattentional deafness affected cooperation. Most states were experienced in workload levels consistent with the literature. However, no other factor such as shift work was identified as a cause of these states. Overall, these findings suggest that “attention” is not a specific enough subject for ATC, as attentional issues can occur in various conditions and have different impacts. As far as safety is concerned, inattentional blindness should be the prime target for further research. Neuroergonomics in particular could help develop dynamic countermeasures to mitigate its impact. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence)
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30 pages, 54529 KiB  
Article
Improving Airline Pilots’ Visual Scanning and Manual Flight Performance through Training on Skilled Eye Gaze Strategies
by Olivier Lefrançois, Nadine Matton and Mickaël Causse
Safety 2021, 7(4), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety7040070 - 14 Oct 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 8780
Abstract
Poor cockpit monitoring has been identified as an important contributor to aviation accidents. Improving pilots’ monitoring strategies could therefore help to enhance flight safety. During two different sessions, we analyzed the flight performance and eye movements of professional airline pilots in a full-flight [...] Read more.
Poor cockpit monitoring has been identified as an important contributor to aviation accidents. Improving pilots’ monitoring strategies could therefore help to enhance flight safety. During two different sessions, we analyzed the flight performance and eye movements of professional airline pilots in a full-flight simulator. In a pre-training session, 20 pilots performed a manual approach scenario as pilot flying (PFs) and were classified into three groups according to their flight performance: unstabilized, standard, and most accurate. The unstabilized pilots either under- or over-focused various instruments. Their number of visual scanning patterns was lower than those of pilots who managed to stabilize their approach. The most accurate pilots showed a higher perceptual efficiency with shorter fixation times and more fixations on important primary flight instruments. Approximately 10 months later, fourteen pilots returned for a post-training session. They received a short training program and performed a similar manual approach as during the pre-training session. Seven of them, the experimental group, received individual feedback on their own performance and visual behavior (i.e., during the pre-training session) and a variety of data obtained from the most accurate pilots, including an eye-tracking video showing efficient visual scanning strategies from one of the most accurate pilots. The other seven, the control group, received general guidelines on cockpit monitoring. During the post-training session, the experimental group had better flight performance (compared to the control group), and its visual scanning strategies became more similar to those of the most accurate pilots. In summary, our results suggest that cockpit monitoring underlies manual flight performance and that it can be improved using a training program based mainly on exposure to eye movement examples from highly accurate pilots. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence)
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12 pages, 1304 KiB  
Article
Conscientiousness in Pilots Correlates with Electrodermal Stability: Study on Simulated Flights under Social Stress
by Antonio R. Hidalgo-Muñoz, Damien Mouratille, Radouane El-Yagoubi, Yves Rouillard, Nadine Matton and Mickaël Causse
Safety 2021, 7(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety7020049 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5777
Abstract
For pilots, the capacity to cope with anxiety is crucial during a flight since they may be confronted with stressful situations. According to the Big Five Inventory, this capacity can be modulated by two important personality traits: conscientiousness and neuroticism. The former would [...] Read more.
For pilots, the capacity to cope with anxiety is crucial during a flight since they may be confronted with stressful situations. According to the Big Five Inventory, this capacity can be modulated by two important personality traits: conscientiousness and neuroticism. The former would be related to concentration skills and the latter to the attention bias towards anxiety-provoking stimuli. Given the current development of monitoring systems for detecting the users’ state, which can be incorporated into cockpits, it is desirable to estimate their robustness to inter-individual personality differences. Indeed, several emotion recognition methods are based on physiological responses that can be modulated by specific personality profiles. The personality traits of twenty pilots were assessed. Afterwards, they performed two consecutive simulated flights without and with induced social stress while electrodermal activity was measured. Their subjective anxiety was assessed before the second flight, prior to the stress-induced condition. The results showed that higher scores in neuroticism correlated positively with cognitive and somatic anxiety. Moreover, under social stress, higher scores in conscientiousness correlated positively with electrodermal stability, i.e., a lower number of skin conductance responses. These results on both self-reported and physiological responses are in favor of the integration of personality differences into pilots’ state monitoring. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Performance and Aviation Safety: New Challenges for Neuroergonomics and Artificial Intelligence)
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