Investigating Interruptions: Implications for Flightdeck Performance
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NASA/TM- 1999-209707 Investigating Interruptions: Implications for Flightdeck Performance Kara A. Latorella Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia October 1999 The NASA STI Program Office ... in Profile Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated CONFERENCE PUBLICATION. to the advancement of aeronautics and space Collected papers from scientific and science. The NASA Scientific and Technical technical conferences, symposia, Information (STI) Program Office plays a key seminars, or other meetings sponsored part in helping NASA maintain this important or co-sponsored by NASA. role. SPECIAL PUBLICATION. 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Latorella Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia 23681-2199 October 1999 Available from: NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI) National Technical Information Service (NTIS) 7121 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road Hanover, MD 21076-1320 Springfield, VA 22161-2171 (301) 621-0390 (703) 605-6000 Note This document is a publication of the dissertation "Investigating Interruptions: Implications for Flightdeck Performance," submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Industrial Engineering program. This research was conducted at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia in the Crew/Vehicle Integration branch and sponsored by a NASA Graduate Student Researcher's fellowship (grant number NGT-50992). The research reported in this publication was concluded and first published as the dissertation on November 1, 1996. Acknowledgments The opportunity to acknowledge the contributions others make to one's work formally, or perhaps, extensively is rare. I plan to take full advantage of this one. Many people contributed to and facilitated this work. It would indeed have been impossible without the financial, administrative, intellectual, technical, and, most importantly, the spiritual support I received. I am grateful to the Industrial Engineering Department, and its Chairman, Dr. Rajan Batta, for providing tuition waivers throughout most of this work; to Dr. Valerie Shalin for her help in preparing the GSRP application; to Mr. Doug Arbuckle for accepting my initial GSRP proposal; to Dr. Kathy Abbott for accepting my proposal to work in the Crew/Vehicle Integration branch and for funding this work; to Mr. Paul Schutte for providing funding from his group within Crew/Vehicle Integration branch; and to Dr. Alan Pope for graciously providing supplemental funding on short notice. Though not directly providing financial support, there have been many individuals that have come to the rescue when the wheels of the several bureaucracies involved in this project have threatened to have me in their knurls. In addition to the heroic efforts of Dr. Colin Drury and Mr. Paul Schutte, these people include: the secretaries in the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Buffalo, particularly Ms. Kathy Dunphy and Mrs. Kris Bovenzi; Mr. John Boehler at the University of Buffalo's Sponsored Programs office; and Mrs. Susan Conry, the Crew/Vehicle Integration branch secretary. Intellectual contributions to this work also arose from numerous sources. My sincere thanks go to the members of my dissertation committee; Dr. Colin Drury, Dr. Valerie Shalin, and Dr. Joseph Sharit, for their unique contributions to this work, and to my graduate education as a whole. Because this work was conducted primarily at NASA Langley in Virginia, they were required to wade through numerous and lengthy e-mails, and participate in occasional protracted coordination meetings; non-optimal conditions to which they graciously adapted. Dr. Kenneth Funk, III, kindly accepted the task of providing an external review of this work. My thanks to him for his swift and effective accomplishment of this task, encouraging comments and constructive criticisms. Several people at NASA Langley also provided helpful perspectives on this work through casual conversation. In particular, this work benefited from discussions early in the process with Dr. William Rogers; and from sporadic but urgent "reality-checks" with Mr. Paul Schutte throughout its course. Dr. Derrick Sugg, Dr. Marianne Rudisill, andDr. Ray Comstockkindly volunteeredtheir timeto discussthestatistical treatmentof experimentaldata. Preparingthe simulatorandscenariofor this experimentwasamajorundertaking. Arriving at NASA Langleyasacompletenovicein aviationpracticeandterminologyaswell asscenario design,I reliedheavily on thetechnicalexpertiseandenduringgoodwill of manypeopleat NASA Langleyto helpmeto developtheexperimentalconditionsandplatform. Captain DaveSimmon(ret.) servedasmy primaryinformation source,guineapig, soundingboard,and instructorin all-things-avionicduring thisproject. He not only providedinformation,both generalandspecificto scenariodevelopment,buttaughtmeagreatdealof invaluable incidentalsfrom his experiencesin pilot training,incident andaccidentanalyses,and"pilot- speak". He is atirelessandinvaluableresource,but abovethat,is anextremelypatientand generoussoul. CaptianRichard"Skeet" Giftbrd's (ret.) additionalassistanceandgoodhumor arealsogreatly appreciated.Mr. FrankMcGeeprovidedreal-timecommunicationsduring the experiment,enduredpatientlywhat seemedlike endlesssessionsrecordingthestatic interruptionmessages,andprovidedthe occasionalencouraging"bravo-zulu!" atthemost appropriatetimes. Simulationdevelopmentrelied heavily on theprogrammingmavens,Mrs. ArleneGuentherandMrs. Wei Anderson,who toleratedmy inexperienceexceptionallywell; Mr. JerryKarwac'sassistancewith graphicdisplays;theTSRV simulatorhardwareand communicationspersonnel,Mr. JerryGalla,Mr. Alan Douglas,Ms. Olivia Hunter,Mr. Walter Bowser,Mr. DaleAshcomb,Mr. Bill Hooper,Mr. DennisFrasca,andMr. WayneBurge,who implementeddifficult requirementsandevenprovidedaconstantandcritical supplyof caffeinethroughoutlong simulationsessions;andio/visualequipmentoperators,Mr. Daryl SacraandMr. Phil Smith;Mr. TerrenceLawrence,who coordinateduseof theVOTAN messagerecordingsystem;and,for assistancein schedulingandsecurityissues,Mr. Don Home,Ms. SoniaHemdon,Mr. JohnRollins, andMr. Lem Meetze. Mrs. ReginaJohns coordinatedsubjectrecruitmentandaccommodations,oftenskillfully rearrangingand obtainingsubjectson shortnotice. I amalsogratefulto theHumanEngineeringMethods group;Mrs. DebbieRull, Mr. EdBogart,Mr. DanBurdette,Dr. Ray Comstockandheadedby Dr. Alan Pope,for their assistancewith physiologicalmeasuresfor this experiment.The physiologicaldataarenot includedin this dissertationbut ratherwill be analyzedseparately, howevertheir efforts to continuallyimprovesubjectpreparation,datacollection, andtheir flexibility throughouttheprocessare significantlyappreciated.Mr. John"super-userJake" Barrycodedintricatescriptsfor simulationdatareduction,createdausefuldatavisualization program,andpatiently enduredmy attemptsto learnUNIX andAWK. I owe adebtof gratitudeto theNASA Langleyemployeeswho volunteeredto pretesttheexperimental scenarios,Mr. LeePersons,Mr. CharlieKnox, Mr. DaveJohnson,andMr. BradPerry;andto all thepilots who participatedaspreliminary subjectsandactualsubjectsin this experiment.