Aircraft Landing Lights Enhance Runway Traffic Safety DOT/FAA/CT-TN05/18 Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405 Karen Buondonno, FAA Simulation and Analysis Group Kimberlea Bender, Titan Corporation Nicole Racine, Titan Corporation Edmundo Sierra, Titan Corporation March, 2005 DOT/FAA/CT-TN05/18 This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, Virginia 22161. A copy is retained for reference by the William J. Hughes Technical Center IRC 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 manufacturer's names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. This document does not constitute FAA certification policy. Consult your local FAA aircraft certification office as to its use. This report is available at the Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center’s Full-Text Technical Reports page: www.tc.faa.gov/its/act141/reportpage.html in Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF). Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. DOT/FAA/CT-TN05/18 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Aircraft Landing Lights Enhance Runway Traffic Safety (AL2ERTS) Final Report March 2005 6. Performing Organization Code ACB-330 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Karen Buondonno (FAA Simulation and Analysis Group), and Kimberlea Bender, Nicole DOT/FAA/CT-TN05/18 Racine, Edmundo Sierra (Titan Corporation) 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Federal Aviation Administration, ACB 330 William J. Hughes Technical Center Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405 11. Contract or Grant No. 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Federal Aviation Administration Technical Note Office of Runway Safety and Operational Services 490 L’Enfant Plaza 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Suite 725 Office of Runway Safety and Washington, DC 20024 Operational Services 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract The Federal Aviation Administration Office of Runway Safety and Operational Services formed a simulation team to investigate the safety effects of standardizing the use of aircraft landing lights in the airport environment. Specifically, the simulation team explored the procedural use of landing lights as a direct message to other pilots indicating that aircraft were cleared to depart. Thirty-two pilots participated in the study as either the Captain or First Officer of a B747-400 simulator crew. The simulator crews were divided into two groups or crews. Each crew flew either a set of 16 scenarios in an environment with a standardized use of landing lights or scenarios using current practices. In four of the scenarios in each environment, a confederate aircraft made an error that resulted in a runway incursion (RI) that could have resulted in an accident with the B747-400 simulator if not detected by the subject crews. Multidimensional measures of RI severity and situation awareness (SA) were made after each scenario. In general, the pattern of results suggest that standardizing the use of aircraft landing lights to indicate that aircraft were cleared to depart prevented or reduced the severity of RIs or accidents, and increased pilot SA. The data shows that crews in the standard condition held-short more frequently, generally experienced less severe incursions, initiated a response to RIs significantly faster, used the landing lights effectively as a first cue, and unanimously felt that safety was increased because of the standardized procedures. Further studies are recommended to determine the effects of other factors such as consistency of the message, message conspicuity, and effects of the message on other human system elements. Evaluating alternatives such as pulse lighting and the potential value of cues to Air Traffic Control may reveal additional benefits. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement AL2ERTS, Aircraft Landing Lights, Aircraft Exterior Lights, Standard This document is available to the public through the Operating Procedures (SOP), Runway Incursion, Virtual Reality National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Simulation, Real-Time Simulation Virginia, 22161 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 110 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge several people who contributed their expert talent and many long hours to this study. Without their hard work and outstanding support, this study would not have been a success. FAA Office of Runway Safety and Operational Services: Will Swank FAA Innovations Division and NASA Ames Research Center Liaison Office: Parimal Kopardekar, Loren (Rod) Ketchum, Barry Scott Study Development, Execution, Analysis, Facility and Laboratory Support at the NASA Ames Research Center: Terry Rager, Linton Kypta, and Bob Shipley (NASA), Diane Carpenter, Jim Miller, Charley Ross, Bob Cornell, Jerry Jones, Ramesh Panda, Ghislain Saillant, Ian Maclure, Dave Brown, Gary Uyehara, Jeff Dewey, Tom Standifur, and Norm Gray (Northrop Grumman Information Technology), Jan Aubright, and Wendy Krikorian (QSS Recruitment Office) Study Analysis Support at the FAA Technical Center: Doug Baart (ACB-330) and George Smith (Titan Corporation) Airline Participants: Airline Pilots Association, Allied Pilots Association, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Atlas Air Incorporated We would also like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Paul Krois and Dr. Kim Cardosi for their contributions to this effort. i ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................... i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... vii ACRONYMS............................................................................................................................... viii 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background....................................................................................................................1 1.2 Objectives ......................................................................................................................2 2. Empirical Evaluation ...............................................................................................................2 2.1 Organizational Roles and Responsibilities ....................................................................2 2.1.1 Simulation Team ..............................................................................................2 2.1.2 Sponsoring Organization..................................................................................2 2.2 Participants ....................................................................................................................3 2.3 Airports..........................................................................................................................3 2.4 Scenario Characteristics.................................................................................................3 2.5 Facility...........................................................................................................................4 2.5.1 NASA B747-400 Simulator .............................................................................4 2.5.2 Pseudo-Pilot .....................................................................................................4 2.5.3 Experiment Operator Station............................................................................4 2.5.4 Air Traffic Controller Support .........................................................................5 2.5.5 Expert Observer................................................................................................5 2.6 Experimental Design .....................................................................................................5 2.7 Procedures .....................................................................................................................6 2.7.1 Crew Briefing and Training .............................................................................7 2.7.2 Data Collection.................................................................................................7 2.8 Dependent Measures......................................................................................................7 2.8.1 Subjective Measures.........................................................................................7 2.8.2 Objective Measures........................................................................................10 2.9 Treatment of Data........................................................................................................11 2.9.1 Descriptive Statistics......................................................................................11