Assessment of the Visual Flight Rules Not Recommended Statement November 2019 6
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DOT/FAA/TC-19/44 Assessment of the Visual Flight Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center Rules Not Recommended Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405 Statement Ulf Ahlstrom, AvMet Applications, Inc. Nicole Racine, DSoft-Technology, Inc Kevin Hallman, Engility Corporation, Inc. November 2019 Technical Report This document is available to the U.S. public through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, Virginia 22161. This document is also available from the Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center at actlibrary.tc.faa.gov U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration NOTICE This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. This document does not constitute Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification policy. Consult your local FAA aircraft certification office as to its use. This report is available at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center’s full- text Technical Reports Web site: Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. DOT/FAA/TC-TN19/44 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Assessment of the Visual Flight Rules Not Recommended Statement November 2019 6. Performing Organization Code ANG-E25 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Ulf Ahlstrom, AvMet Applications, Inc. DOT/FAA/TC-TN19/44 Nicole Racine, DSoft Technology Company Kevin Hallman, Engility Corporation, Inc. 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Branch 11. Contract or Grant No. William J. Hughes Technical Center Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Federal Aviation Administration Technical Report 800 Independence Avenue, S.W. 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington, DC 20591 ANG-C61 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract Objective: We evaluated the weather conditions that pilots and Flight Service Station (FSS) specialists deem important to determine whether Visual Flight Rules (VFR) Not Recommended (VNR) conditions are/will be present or not. In addition, this effort began to define criteria for an online weather planning VNR service. Background: One of the FSS specialist responsibilities is to evaluate the weather along a proposed route of flight and decide if conditions warrant a VNR statement. Some pilots view the VNR statement unhelpful due to perceived over application. Method: We provided a group of FSS professionals and a group of general aviation pilots with a series of scenarios representing different weather categories to assess how GA pilots and FSS specialists determined flight conditions (VNR or VFR) using standard weather products. Results: Based on the correlation analysis, we cannot conclusively identify the specific standard weather products used to make a VNR or VFR determination or any differences between participant groups in making that determination, however, we identified certain common products that participants rated as having a “moderate impact” or above. Conclusion: Due to inconsistency and wide variation in weather product use, we find that there is a need for a procedure standardization. Applications: If we can define and train FSS specialists (and pilots) to adopt a procedural method of evaluating the weather products, we could apply that same methodology for an automated procedure that always follows the same steps and make consistent recommendations. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Flight Service Station This document is available to the U.S. public through General Aviation the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), VFR Not Recommended Springfield, Virginia 22161. This document is also Weather interpretation available from the Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center at actlibrary.tc.faa.gov 19. Security Classification (of this report) 20. Security Classification (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 84 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized THIS PAGE IS BLANK INTENTIONALLY. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background .....................................................................................................................1 1.2 Purpose ............................................................................................................................2 2.GENERAL METHODS 3 2.1 Participants .......................................................................................................................3 2.3 Research Personnel ...........................................................................................................3 2.2 Informed Consent .............................................................................................................3 2.4 Facilities ...........................................................................................................................3 2.5 FSS Workstation Simulator ..............................................................................................3 2.6 Data Handling Procedure .................................................................................................7 2.8 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................7 2.9 Experiment .......................................................................................................................7 2.10 Study Flight Plan Scenarios .............................................................................................8 2.11 Experimental Stimuli ........................................................................................................9 2.12 Independent Variable .....................................................................................................10 2.13 Dependent Variables ......................................................................................................11 3.RESULTS 11 3.1. VFR or VNR Selection ..................................................................................................11 3.2. Justification Responses ..................................................................................................12 3.3. Recommendation Analysis ............................................................................................38 3.4. Post Scenario Questionnaire ..........................................................................................50 3.5. Post Study Questionnaire ..............................................................................................53 4.CONCLUSION 54 5.RECOMMENDATION 56 APPENDIX A: Research Team 60 APPENDIX B: Informed Consent Statement 61 APPENDIX C: Biographical Questionnaires 63 APPENDIX D: Post-Scenario Questionnaires 65 APPENDIX E: Post Study Questionnaires 73 iv LIST of ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Aviation Weather Center Landing Page ......................................................................... 4 Figure 2. Example of Flight Plan Map. .......................................................................................... 4 Figure 3. Aviation Weather Product Toolbar ................................................................................. 5 Figure 4. Example of weather information used in the VNR study ............................................... 6 Figure 5. The FSS Simulation Desktop Computer for the VNR study. ......................................... 7 Figure 6. FSS and Pilot VFR and VNR Selection Summary ....................................................... 12 Figure 7. Graphical map depicting Scenario 1 proposed flight .................................................... 13 Figure 8. Scenario 1 FSS VFR Justifications ............................................................................... 14 Figure 9. Scenario 1 FSS VNR Justifications .............................................................................. 14 Figure 10. Scenario 1 Pilot VNR Justifications............................................................................ 15 Figure 11. Graphical map depicting Scenario 2 proposed flight .................................................. 16 Figure 12. Scenario 2 FSS VFR Justifications ............................................................................. 17 Figure 13. Scenario 2 FSS VNR Justifications ............................................................................ 18 Figure 14. Scenario 2 Pilot VFR Justifications ............................................................................ 18 Figure 15. Scenario 2 Pilot VNR Justifications............................................................................ 19 Figure 16. Graphical map depicting Scenario 3 proposed flight .................................................. 20 Figure 17. Scenario 3 FSS VFR Justifications ............................................................................. 21 Figure 18. Scenario 3 FSS VNR Justifications ............................................................................ 21 Figure 19. Scenario 3 Pilot VFR Justifications