ASPIRE conference
– By Rodrigo Rose (TG Program Chair) and Stephen Cauffman (TG Program Vice-Chair)
The HFES ASPIRE Conference 2026 will take place in Reno, Nevada from October 19–23, 2026. Preparation of the Aerospace Systems track is progressing well, with the first round of peer reviews and acceptance decisions now completed.
Your ASTG Program Chair and Vice-Chair would like to extend their sincere thanks to all authors and reviewers for their time, rigor, and commitment. Their contributions are central to shaping a technically strong and engaging conference program. We are also pleased to see an increase in the number of lecture slots this year, which allows for broader representation of the work submitted by the community.
All accepted submissions will be presented at the conference. Authors may now choose whether to submit a full paper for inclusion in the conference proceedings. For those opting to do so, the full paper submission deadline is May 19, 2026, with peer review feedback scheduled for June 4, 2026.
This year, ASTG will offer $500 travel grants to students presenting their lectures as part of the Aerospace track; more information will be provided as the registration process begins. We will also offer two awards – Best Paper and Best Student Paper – to highlight the scientific qualities of outstanding contributions.
Human Factors Cast
Elena Zhang (Rice University) and Philippe Doyon-Poulin continue to contribute to the Human Factors podcast by sharing the latest news and interviews in aerospace human factors. You can listen on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you would like to be interviewed or join the podcast, drop us a line!
Recent publications
- By Philippe Doyon-Poulin and Savannah Buchner
"That Level of Pressure Is … What Breaks a Pilot": A Qualitative Exploration of Perceptions Around Stress and Mental Health in UK Commercial Pilots
The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology
Sophie Bellwood, Lisa Cowap & Alison Owen
Relationships Between Pilots' Startle and Surprise Responses and Information-Processing Performance During Simulated In-Flight Events
Human Factors
Jiayu Chen, Annemarie Landman, Alexis Derumigny, Olaf Stroosma, M. M. (René) van Paassen and Max Mulder
Investigating Flight Instructors' Safety Behaviors Through Personality Traits, Affective Domain, and Safety Climate in the United States
Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors
Vivek Sharma and Meredith Carroll
Investigating flight crew strategies to cope with unexpected events: a multi-layered extended control model of joint crew-automation activity
Safety Science
Rogier Woltjer, Amy Rankin, Ellen Ekström, Victor Sjölin, Joris Field
Principles for 'intelligent assistant' systems in future flight deck design: autonomous action integration to reduce pilot workload
The Aeronautical Journal
Declan Saunders, James Blundell, Wen-Chin Li, Peter Beecroft, Linghai Lu, Wojciech Tomasz Korek, Wenbing Shi
Review of Advanced Informatics and Display Systems for Extravehicular Activity Operations
47th International IEEE Aerospace Conferences
Joshua Elston, Jacob Keller, Matthew Miller, Susannah Paletz, Lauren Landon, Paromita Mitra, John Karasinski, Jessica Marquez
Lack of Control: From a Fear of Flying to a Fear of Riding in Automated Vehicles
Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors
Igor Radun, Jenni Radun, Jyrki Kaistinen, Hanna Granroth-Wilding, and Timo Lajunen
In the News
– By Kairat Khismetzhan and Savannah Buchner
Space
Artemis II crew returns to Earth after a successful mission to the moon! During the mission, they flew 694,481 miles and at their furthest were 252,756 miles from Earth. The crew conducted science and documentation on parts of the moon never seen by human eyes, evaluated the spacecraft systems and procedures, and traveled further from Earth than any other human. The crew themselves are also being studied in the Spaceflight Standard Measures, which collects a snapshot of astronauts' bodies and minds and how these changes as a result of spaceflight. Important measurements are taken after flight to assess functional performance, critical for understanding how well astronauts will be able to work on the moon post-landing.
NASA details plan to establish lunar surface base by 2030, send nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars. NASA has outlined a range of new initiatives aimed at achieving the Trump administration's national space policy objectives, including plans to launch robotic landers on a monthly basis starting in 2027 and to establish a lunar outpost. President Donald Trump in December issued an executive order calling for NASA to return U.S. astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028 and establish the "initial elements" of a surface base by 2030, under the Artemis program created during his first term. The current Moon Base user guide calls out human factors as an important component of risk reduction for the Moon Base and as a key area for Mars forward development.
Defence
Army Officially Launches 'Amazon-Like' UAS Marketplace. The drone marketplace is available to customers across the Pentagon and other U.S. federal agencies, and potentially international partners in the future, and currently has around 30 Group 1 (less than 20 lbs) and Group 2 (21 to 55 lbs) systems listed for purchase with an aim to eventually bring on systems from hundreds of companies over the next two years.
Honeywell and Odys Develop Laila VTOL Anti-drone Platform - Honeywell is developing potential anti-drone defense applications for Odys Aviation's uncrewed hybrid-electric Laila VTOL aircraft. In a March 31 announcement, the companies confirmed that they have been working for more than a year to prepare Honeywell's Stationary and Mobile UAS Reveal and Intercept (SAMURAI) autonomous airborne platform for deployment on Laila.
Aviation
Garmin Adds Airport/FBO Rating Tool to Its Pilot EFB - Garmin has added new functionality to its subscription-based Pilot mobile electronic flight bag platform, now giving users the ability to leave and view comments and reviews of airport facilities and FBOs they frequent. Aircraft operators can leave feedback based on their experiences, so others can use that information while planning flights.
FAA updates its guidance on GNSS spoofing and jamming. This second iteration includes multiple updates following the initial release back in December. It presents the locations of past incidents; the effects in the flight deck; suggested procedures on how to deal with GNSS interference; and training recommendations for pilots. Among the numerous noteworthy items in the report, two elements got my attention. First, the flight deck effects can be difficult to pinpoint to a single event and vary between aircraft models. Second, the GNSS spoofing alters the aircraft clock, which leads to the unexpected (from the pilot's perspective) loss of CPDLC connection, yet this works as per standard.
Avionics Industry Optimistic as AEA Opens Convention - As the annual Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) Convention opened today, members of the avionics manufacturing and dealership community looked forward to the week's schedule of more than 100 hours of training, the second annual skills competition, and exhibits of the latest in avionics technology and tools.
US House passes bill to clear way for overland supersonic flights - The bill would require the FAA to revise its rules within a year to allow civil aircraft to fly faster than Mach 1 over land without special authorization, provided no sonic boom reaches the ground. The measure targets a long-standing FAA ban dating to 1973, when regulators barred overland civil supersonic flight because of noise concerns tied to sonic booms.
AI Deployment Aims To Maximize Flight Training Debriefs. California-based start-up Navi AI develops a generative AI system that it says will help flight instructors and their students focus on all important points from training flights. Navi AI has collected and processed data from around 100,000 flights. The platform gathers and analyzes 80 time-stamped data points from Garmin avionics, including traffic and weather data, radio calls, and discussions between pilot and instructor. It takes Navi AI about 5 minutes to process the data from a flight to produce its debrief package. Students and instructors can interact verbally with the AI system that provides answers based exclusively on what is in the training manuals
Air Traffic Management
Collins Showcases Vision for Common ATC Platform - While FAA and Department of Transportation officials outline a vision for evolving the air traffic control systems to a connected, common platform, Collins Aerospace is developing technologies that could provide a glimpse of what that might look like. Company executives did not say whether the RTX subsidiary has submitted to the FAA's request for information (RFI) on a common automation platform (CAP), but they did showcase their own AutoTrac common platform that can provide a foundation for an array of connected air traffic management capabilities.
Skylark Brings AI FOD Detection to Airports - Skylark Labs has begun deploying fixed foreign-object debris (FOD) detection technology at major commercial airports in India. According to the Menlo Park, California-based start-up, the stationary system uses optical sensors to autonomously monitor runways, eliminating the need for manual inspections and mobile vehicle patrols. Using adaptive AI algorithms, it identifies and classifies debris in real time and transmits precise coordinates to ground staff and air traffic control, who then dispatch personnel to remove it.
Sustainability
Electric Drives Could Cut Carbon From Airliner Taxiing - Airbus is working with powertrain specialist Drive System Design (DSD) on new efforts to decarbonize aircraft taxiing operations using electric propulsion to partly replace the main engines. The Project Sonata work is supported by the UK's Aerospace Technology Institute and is targeting a 47% reduction in emissions for airport ground movements.
Accidents
'Meow, meow': Pilots scolded after animal noises heard on air traffic control frequency - Animal sounds heard over an air traffic control frequency were not from a cat loose on the plane, but human pilots making animal noises. In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said regulations prohibit pilots from "engaging in non-essential conversations when they're below 10,000 feet altitude" and that the agency investigates all situations where pilots may have violated the rules.
Pilot Judgment Error Caused Citation III Hail Damage - A pilot's decision to overfly convective weather instead of deviating around it caused a Cessna Citation III to sustain substantial hail damage over Colorado on June 13, 2025, according to the NTSB final report. The NTSB also noted that the right-seat pilot did not hold a type rating for the twinjet and did not meet regulatory requirements to act as second-in-command. The aircraft requires two pilots.
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ASTG Team
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