Military Pilot Training Research Articles

NEW APPROACH TO MILITARY PILOT EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE NEW SECURITY ENVIRONMENT

Military pilot education, including flight training, is a long, expensive, and complex process. The main goal is to produce as many skilled professionals as possible ready to perform flight tasks on the front-line aircraft and push them to their workload limits with complete control. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to select and educate young people with the aptitude and abilities to perform the most demanding military flight tasks. The creation of a model for the education and training of military pilots depends on the requirements of the Czech Air Force Command and the teaching capacities of the University of Defence and the Aviation Training Centre in Pardubice. Rearmament of the Czech Air Force and the required number of pilots requires a change in the new military pilot training model. This contribution describes a new approach to Czech Air Force pilot education and training in the current security conditions in the world.

Assessing Mental Workload in Dual STEM–Air Force Language Listening Practice

Cognitive workload analysis is an important aspect of safety studies at the Spanish Air Force Academy where students must complete a dual academic curriculum based on military pilot training combined with an industrial engineering degree. Recently, a mental workload assessment (MWA) and forecasting model based on Shannon’s law from information theory (IT) has been published; it proposes a new mathematical procedure (MWA-IT) that defines a workload index that could be extrapolated to other case studies. The aim of this study was to adapt this model to the Spanish University Centre of Defence to calculate the mental workload caused by the listening practice in English as a foreign language. In addition, a contrasting methodology, the NASA task load index (NASA-TLX), was applied to validate the proposed model using the error study provided by SMAPE and MSE. The results established an expected reference baseline for MWA-IT in English listening that is between 36 and 92 at the end of the four courses, which corresponds to the students that start with the lowest English level (higher workload = 92) and the ones with the highest English level certification (lowest workload = 36); meanwhile, the NASA-TLX result was between 49.8 and 193.7 for the same circumstances. The main difference is that MWA-IT can be predicted with 41% less deviation than can NASA-TLX and does not require the completion of a questionnaire following the activities. Finally, the study also highlights the fact that that nearly 65% of the workload was caused by the first two courses, when the advanced STEM subjects were taught and the pilot learning and practice program had not yet begun. This methodology may help the teachers in charge to redesign or add new content depending on the expected workload reference.

Flight Training Syllabus Structure Impact on Proactive Planning of High-Performance Military Aircraft Pilot Training Operations in Flexible Airspace Structures

European airspace is marked by fragmentation, and from fragmentation originated congestion. As an answer to congestion, flexible use of airspace is created to fulfil all users’ requirements optimally, and at its very core lies civil-military cooperation and the coordination of airspace use. Such an approach is enabled by collaborative decision-making, which presumes timely and complete exchange of complete relevant information between airspace users. To participate in the process, the military should be transparent regarding its restrictions and capabilities of adaptation to other airspace users’ demands. Flight training syllabus structure and its specific impact on proactive planning of high-performance military aircraft pilot training operations in flexible airspace structures is the subject of this research. Significant diversity in the hourly distribution of civil traffic demand in flexible airspace structures in Zagreb FIR proves them applicable for a proactive approach to high-performance aircraft pilot training operations planning and management. Noticeable reduction in the number of civil aircraft affected by high-performance aircraft pilot training operations in flexible airspace structures at congested flight levels is corroborated. Simulations of proactive planning of high-performance aircraft pilot training operations reveal indications of flight syllabus structure’s impact on pilot flight training duration, as well as the possibility to manage its restrictions.

PEDAGOGICAL MEASUREMENT OF THE COGNITIVE COMPONENT OF PROFESSIONAL READINESS FOR COMBAT FLIGHTS OF FUTURE PILOTS OF TACTICAL AVIATION

This article presents the results of the attempt of pedagogical measurement of the cognitive component of professional readiness of future pilots of tactical aviation of Ukraine in the conditions of the educational process of higher military educational institution. Taking into account the relevance of quality improvement of professional training of Ukrainian military pilots, it is important to clearly present and be able to maximally differentiate and accurately measure its results. One of the most important of them is the intellectual criterion, just embodied in the cognitive component. The author's version of such a pedagogical measurement is based on his own developed set of indicators and levels of assessment of this criterion on the one hand and the method of studying the structure of intellect by R. Amthauer as a methodological tool on the other.The study of the cognitive component of professional readiness for combat flights of military pilot cadets at Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National University of the Air Force proves the effectiveness and prospects of such an approach.

A simultaneous sequencing and allocation problem for military pilot training: Integer programming approaches

In this paper, we study a unique, rich combinatorial optimization problem that arose from helicopter aircrew training for the Royal Australian Navy. Each pilot trainee (student) has to complete a syllabus. A syllabus is a sequence of courses (commonly known as subjects), and each course is associated with a pass rate. A pre-requisite structure exists amongst some courses. Each course has a number of repeated sessions, each spanning the same amount of time, but occupying a different set of (possibly overlapping) time slots. A feasible schedule is a sequence of course sessions such that each course in the syllabus is covered by exactly one session, and that all pre-requisite requirements are observed. The optimization problem is to simultaneously assemble course sessions to form feasible schedules, allocate students to these schedules with an objective to minimize the total time-span in completing the syllabus, while ensuring that the class size limits for each course session is not exceeded. The problem is different from the school or university time tabling family of problems due to the assembly component required. This paper is to serve as a pilot study: we derive a number of mixed-integer linear programming models and investigate their performance using test instances provided for us by our industry partner. For each of these models, we propose a number of solution strategies as topics for future research papers. From our numerical testing, it appears that the Column Generation-based approach is computationally the most promising method.

군(軍) 전투기 경력 신입 민항조종사 리더십 경험이 민간항공 CRM Skill 습득에 미치는 영향

Flight safety in modern commercial aircraft depends on the ability of pilots to manage overall flight operations. ICAO has made it mandatory for airlines to adhere to Crew Resource Management(CRM) policies to reduce operational safety threats. CRM is a set of techniques designed to effectively manage the human resources, aircraft, and environmental factors in order to promote safety and enhance efficient air operations. When looking at the career backgrounds of new pilots joining the Republic of Korea’s commercial airlines, discharged military fighter pilots represent the largest demographic. Fighter pilots are experienced in empowering leadership and directive leadership from their military training and culture. New commercial airline pilots with military fighter pilot training should effectively acquire the required civil aviation CRM skills. The present study has been carried out to determine how the leadership experience of this demographic affects the acquisition of CRM skills for commercial airlines, and it confirms that there is a positive correlation.

Future Military Pilots’ Professional Competence Formation

The article foregrounds the need for future military pilots’ professional competence formation taking into consideration the growing amount of armed conflicts. The analysis of the literary sources indicates that scientists are interested in improving the professional training of future military pilots, but not enough attention is paid to the formation of professional competence of these specialists. Our research set a goal to experimentally test the singled out organizational and pedagogical conditions for future military pilots’ professional competence formation (interdisciplinary integration with the goal of future military pilots’ tactical thinking forming; the use of simulator-based training to practice different types of combat flights by future military pilots; making use of operational pilots’ experience and analysis of combat employment of aviation for the purpose of updating air-tactical knowledge and improving air-tactical training of future military pilots) whether they contribute to the effective formation of the abovementioned definition. The experiment involved 227 persons (undergraduate future military pilots (20–22 years old)), the experimental group consisted of 127 persons, the control group made 100 persons. These groups were qualitatively homogeneous at the initial stage of the experiment. The implementation of distinguished organizational and pedagogical conditions into the educational process of higher military educational institutions provided an opportunity to effectively shape the professional competence of future military pilots, which is confirmed by the methods of mathematical statistics. Thus, the conducted scientific search confirms the effectiveness of proposed conditions of future military pilots’ professional competence formation.

Migraine History and Recurrence in Military Pilot Applicants.

BACKGROUND: Migraine is a common condition with features that can adversely impact aviation activities. The diagnosis of migraine is often compatible with civil aviation training, but is much more concerning for military pilot applicants. A history of migraine headache traditionally medically excluded potential military pilot applicants due to unpredictability of occurrence and potential for operational distraction or incapacitation. Medical standards and policy applications have been quite variable, ranging from total exclusion for even one headache occurrence to as low as a 1-yr migraine-free period before consideration. In many instances, policy application has been subjective and not based on objective evidence. This presents a challenge to waiver authorities and also potentially sends a mixed message to command authorities. There is essentially no current literature evidence applicable to the aviation population on migraine occurrence risk.METHODS: This study reviewed 71 U.S. Air Force pilot applicants who were diagnosed with migraine and had been granted waivers to assess any predictive factors for migraine recurrence and its aeromedical impact.RESULTS: Only three applicants had recurrence after waiver was granted, with two of these occurring within 2 yr of their last reported migraine event, and all recurrences noted within 3 yr.DISCUSSION: Data indicated favorable risk with suitable migraine-free observation before military pilot training, which could be incorporated into aeromedical standards and policies.Hesselbrock RR, Haynes JT. Migraine history and recurrence in military pilot applicants. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(1):37-40.

Estimating Pilots' Cognitive Load From Ocular Parameters Through Simulation and In-Flight Studies.

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze (where one is looking) or the motion of an eye relative to the head. This paper investigated use of eye gaze trackers in military aviation environment to automatically estimate pilot’s cognitive load from ocular parameters. In the first study, we used a fixed base variable stability flight simulator with longitudinal tracking task and collected data from 14 military pilots. In a second study, we undertook four test flights with BAES Hawk Trainer and Jaguar aircrafts doing air to ground attack training missions and constant G level turn maneuvers up to +5G. Our study found that ocular parameters like rate of fixation is significantly different in different flying conditions. It also significantly correlated with rate of descent during air to ground dive training task, normal load factor (G) of the aircraft during constant G level turn maneuvers and pilot’s control inceptor and tracking error in simulation tasks. Results from our studies can be used for real time estimation of pilots’ cognitive load, providing suitable warnings and alerts to the pilot in cockpit and training of military pilots on cognitive load management during operational missions.

Comprehensive Aviaton System of Flying Crew Improving Safety in the Aircraft Operation

Abstract The article describes 10 known programmes of practical flight training in military aviation – specialization: Multi-Mission Tactical Jet Pilot, which is the highest level of military pilot training in all types of military and civil aviation – comparable only to the level of training and experience of the pilot-instructor of the Military Aviation School. The presented comparison was developed on the basis of literature research from the point of view of, among others, an aircraft operation engineer and a pilot-instructor.

SPECIFICITY OF MILITARY-PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES OF CADETS – MILITARY PILOTS

The article considers the problem of military-professional training of cadets military pilots in a military aviation university, which forms a readiness for practical activities. The relevance of the study is due to the needs of modernization of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the current external and internal conditions of life of the state. The military-professional activity of cadets-military pilots is considered as a process of solving professional tasks that ensure the readiness of aviation units to ensure the military security of the country.
 The significance of the command-methodological activity in the structure of the military-professional activity of an officer is revealed. Based on the activity approach, team and methodological tasks in the content of military-professional activity are determined, the leading role of command-methodological activity is proved. On the basis of the functional approach and the principle of identification, the functions of command-methodological activities are determined: military-flight, organizational-managerial and educational.
 Arguments are given regarding the command-methodological competence of cadets-military pilots during their training at a military aviation university. The specificity and peculiarity of the military-professional activity of cadets military pilots is specified.

Reliability of forecast of successful flight training based on professional psychological selection

oday’s military aviation imposes ever increasing requirements on the pilots’ professional qualities, thus complicating the problems related to the improvement of the quality of professional selection and training of military pilots. The research conducted by V.A. Ponomarenko and V.A. Bodrov introduced the term “prolonged selection” into aviation psychology, meaning professional psychological support of flight training. The forecasting of successful training at the early stage is an important part of this support and is the focus of this paper.Methods. The aim of the study was to verify the forecast of successful flight training based on the professional psychological selection (PPS) at early stages of professional training and feasibility of such forecast in the form of integral estimation. For that purpose the authors used the academic progress estimates, the results of piloting skills development using flight simulators, the dynamics of professionally important qualities (PIQ) of cadets during the first two years of training in comparison with those indicators obtained during the PPS. The sample included 143 cadets. The test subjects were surveyed at their admission to the flight school and in the first two years of the course according to programs prescribed by the regulatory documents of the Russian Ministry of Defense and command of the Aerospace Forces. The survey is an obligatory condition for enrollment in a flight school and the subsequent flight training and does not contradict today’s ethical standards of scientific research. The surveyed cadets were distributed into two groups per categories of professional aptitude based on the results of PIQ survey conducted during the professional psychological selection: the 1-st group (55 people), the “fit” with good professional aptitude indicators, and the 2-nd group (88 people), the “conditionally fit” with acceptable professional aptitude indicators. Statistical analysis was carried out with Microsoft Office 2007 Excel descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test criterion for unpaired samples.Results. The survey showed that the “fit” group, as compared to the “conditionally fit” are better adapted to the conditions of military service, have higher indicators of cognitive mental processes and sensorimotor abilities. They master course content and simulator training better. At the same time, in terms of their physiological and physical qualities the cadets of the two surveyed groups are indistinguishable and all show good results, which is confirmed by their grades in physical education and shows their good physical development and fitness.Conclusions. The forecast of successful flight training made at the stage of professional psychological selection as a category of professional aptitude is confirmed at the initial stages of the cadets’ training during professional psychological support activities. The integral estimation composed of the results of academic progress, psychological, psychophysiological inspection survey data, results of simulator training can be used in subsequent flight training as the input for individual professional training programs. In order to improve the reliability of training, integrated automated methods are planned to be developed for the purpose of diagnosing current flying PIQs, as well as methods of their improvement and development [4].

Military Pilot Training

Abstract The article presents the description of the current systems of training military aircraft pilots. Particular attention has been paid to the trends of change aimed at reducing the cost of purchasing school aircraft and the burden on the entire training and aircraft operation system. Over the past 3 years, the annual Pilot Training Conference in London has dominated the issue of increasing the effectiveness of training pilots of combat aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle operators. The results of training experiments were presented on this conference, which presented the abandonment of intermediate airplanes training process of military pilots. The results of different researches allowed to state, that on a well-designed school airplane, such as the Pilatus PC-21, one can train both basic and advanced trainings and then train pilots directly to the combat aircraft. Of course, all this training process should be intensively supported by the modern mission simulator of the 5th generation. This allows the thesis to be a future, innovative training system that significantly reduces the training costs of a combat aircraft pilot without affecting the quality of the training.

The Enhancement of Training of Military Pilots Using Psychophysiological Methods

The Enhancement of Training of Military Pilots Using Psychophysiological Methods

Model of military pilot education and training from the aspect of new aircraft acquisition

Military pilot education, including flight training is a long, expensive and complex process. The main goal is to produce as many skilled professionals ready to perform flight tasks on the front-line aircraft and push them to the limits with complete control. To achieve this goal it is necessary to select and educate young people with aptitude and abilities to perform the most demanding military flight tasks. The creation of the model of military pilot education and training hardly depends on aircraft types, which are used in operational service in the front-line units. The acquisition of new aircraft imposes the change of the model of military pilot education. This paper describes the possible model of military pilot education from the aspect of the acquisition of the new aircraft in the Serbian Air Force.

Relations of Personality Traits to Military Aviator Performance

Abstract. Most research on cognitive and personality characteristics needed for effective military aircrew has focused on identifying measures that predict initial training outcomes ( Carretta & Ree, 2003 ). While many of the same cognitive aptitudes predictive of military pilot training outcomes are likely to also predict on-the-job technical performance, the strict technical focus of training may make it difficult to fully evaluate the relations of personality to broader job performance criteria. This study evaluated the extent to which pre-accession personality measures were predictive of the stratification (i.e., ranking based on job performance) of early-career US Air Force aviators on Officer Performance Reports in assignments after initial training. Supervisor and senior rater stratifications of aviators on overall job performance were significantly related to pre-accession personality scores. For both pilots and navigators whose job performance was ranked, higher levels of Extraversion and Agreeableness were associated with more favorable supervisory performance rankings (uncorrected r values = .20–.28).

Investigating the Validity of Previous Flying Experience, Both Actual and Simulated, in Predicting Initial and Advanced Military Pilot Training Performance

This study examined the validity of cognitive ability, previous flying experience, and a simulation in predicting the job knowledge and flying performance of military pilots undergoing training. Archival data were analyzed for 300 Canadian pilot candidates who attempted entry-level military pilot training and 150 candidates who completed intermediate-level training on fixed-wing aircraft. Cognitive ability predicted aviation-related job knowledge but not flying performance at either early or later stages of flying performance. Both previous flying experience and the simulation predicted success in early flying performance but only the simulation predicted success at the more advanced levels of pilot training. Previous flying experience moderated the results from the simulation; the simulation was a much stronger predictor of advanced flying performance for those candidates with no previous flying experience. The results suggest developing different selection protocols for those candidates with previous flying experience.

Standard Cognitive Psychological Tests Predict Military Pilot Training Outcomes

The predictive validity of scores from two cognitive functioning tests, the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB) and the MicroCog, was examined for initial pilot training performance. In addition to training completion, several training performance criteria were available for graduates: academic grades, daily flying grades, check ride grades, and class rank. Mean score comparisons and correlations in samples of between 5,582 and 12,924 trainees across the two tests showed small but statistically significant relationships with training performance. For example, after correction for range restriction and dichotomization of the criterion, the MAB full-scale IQ score and the MicroCog General Cognitive Functioning score were correlated .29 and .26 respectively with initial pilot training completion. The results pointed to general cognitive ability as the main predictor of training performance. Comparisons with results from studies involving US Air Force pilot aptitude tests showed lower validities for these cognitive functioning tests. This finding likely occurred because the pilot aptitude tests measure additional factors (e.g., aviation knowledge/experience and psychomotor skills) that are predictive of training success and that are not covered by the cognitive functioning tests.

S.C. Advanced Training Aircraft IAR 99 (A) SOIM

The use of subsonic single control aircraft and especially of double–control ones, instead of supersonic combat aircraft in the military pilot training programs in the operational units, has become a necessity due to the economic and financial world-wide crisis which began during the 70’s80’s, with the advent of the oil crisis, affecting many countries, which have their own Military Air Forces.

Utilization of simple and double control subsonic aircraft for advanced combat training of the military pilots

The use of subsonic single control aircraft and especially of double–control ones, instead of supersonic combat aircraft in the military pilot training programs in the operational units, has become a necessity due to the economic and financial world-wide crisis which began during the 70’s80’s, with the advent of the oil crisis, affecting many countries, which have their own Military Air Forces.