Aviator Behavior and Performance as Affected by Aircrew Life Support and Protective Equipment

Abstract

_____________________________________________________________________________________________A methodology for quantifying Army rotary wing aviator performance as influenced by aircrew life support, survival, and nuclear-biologicalchemical clothing and equipment ensembles was examined in a set of experimental trials conducted in an AH-64 (Apache) combat mission simulator. The methodology was based on an aircrew evaluation procedure originally developed for use in the crew coordination training of all Army aviators. It uses a set of 13 basic qualities, each with behavioral anchors and a 7-point rating scale, and it is administered by specifically trained senior aviator evaluators. Ten crews, two aviators in each, while fully encumbered, performed three combat missions for record, representative of typical operational tasks, with one "variation" trial conducted without the over-water components of the ensemble. Measures of effectiveness and flight data, as well as stress assessment and equipment "complaints" citations, were recorded. The results indicated that the behavior-anchored scores were not sensitive enough to statistically discriminate among the independent variables of repeated measures and the variation trials even though graphically, differences were readily apparent. Attempts to apply transformations to the data, based on the aviator subjects' relative flying experience and their apparent accommodation to the trials were also statistically unsuccessful. The additional measures collected did not yield statistically significant discriminations nor did they correlate well with the evaluation scores. A number of options for improving the technique are offered. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe also offer an appreciative and hearty "well done" to that highly motivated group of associate investigators who were major contributors to this investigation by working long, long hours during the trials while maintaining their sense of humor throughout: Ms. Jean Breitenbach and Mr. Ronald Whittaker as well as co-authors Mr. Daniel Barker, Ms. Debra Patton, and Ms. Linda Mullins, HRED; and to those highly skilled instructor-operators and evaluators manning the simulator, CW3 C. David Pope, Jr., CW4 Michael Hillwig, CW5 Gary Kilker, Mr. Charles (Chip) Decker, WO2 Joseph O'Neill, WO2 Michael Wanamaker. Of course, we are extremely grateful to the aviators who participated as subjects, whom we cannot thank by name in this report. Nevertheless, they are highly commended for their dedication to the investigation as well as their willingness to tolerate strange hours and large doses of hard work and discomfort.Special gratitude is given to the people at the Western Area Aviation Training Site (WAATS), Marana, Arizona, who most graciously offered their simulation facilities for the experiment and who assisted, along with the Arizona National Guard, in the logistics of its execution: COL George Gluski, CDR, WAATS, LTC James Braman, Chief of the AH64 CMS facility; his second in command and co-author MAJ David Mitchell; Platoon Leader a...

The Impact of Induced Stress Upon Selective Attention in Multiple Object Tracking

“…A. Fatkin, King, & Hudgens, 1990;L. T. Fatkin, 2003;Waugh, et al, 1999). For example, an independent control was included as comparison data, representing a condition ranging from no stress to low stress.…”