TG of the month

We're proud to share that the Aerospace Systems Technical Group (ASTG) has been recognized in the HFES Circle of Excellence as the TG of the Month for August - an achievement only two other TGs have earned so far!

🔍 What does "TG of the Month" mean?

The HFES Circle of Excellence program celebrates Technical Groups that go above and beyond in member engagement, outreach, and impact. Being selected as TG of the Month recognizes our leadership, innovation, and commitment to advancing human factors in our field. It also means that ASTG reached the Silver Level and that we are well on our way to get the Gold Level by the conference.

As part of this recognition, HFES will be highlighting ASTG's contributions throughout August - including a Member Spotlight, a research highlights feature, and our upcoming webinar.

Webinar - August 13

On Wednesday, August 13, 2025, at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET, the ASTG will host a webinar featuring Carrie Lin and Kylen Lawless from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Their presentation, "Applying Human Factors Analysis in Designing Accessible Lavatories on Single-Aisle Aircraft", will explore how Boeing uses systems engineering and human-centered design to interpret performance-based accessibility standards, assess compliance, and develop innovative solutions for a diverse passenger population. The session will cover challenges, best practices, and lessons learned in improving airplane accessibility. The webinar is open to all and will be livestreamed and recorded.

Please access the link below to register for the webinar:

https://smithbucklin.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oC_NuR8iQ9mPOZGfe9nGhw

Member spotlight

By Katie Sabo

From academic foundations to classified government projects and now expert consulting in forensic human factors, Dr. Neil Ganey's journey highlights a deep commitment to meaningful work and adaptability across domains. With broad experience from aviation and maritime systems to military wearables and safety investigations, he emphasizes the importance of understanding workplace culture, seeking impact, and knowing when it's time to pivot. Dr. Ganey shows how human factors can drive safety, fairness, and innovation when paired with deep user understanding and organizational insight.

Read his interview with Katie Sabo to learn more 👉https://hfes-aerospace.org/2025/07/16/member-spotlight-neil-ganey/

New Publications

By Philippe Doyon-Poulin

Synergies in the Skies: Situation Awareness and Shared Mental Model in Digital-Human Air Traffic Control Teams

by Ingrid Gerdes, Mohsan Jamee, Leo J. Materne and Carmen Bruder

MDPI Aerospace

This work proposes a Digital ATCO (DA) designed to function as a team member, not just an automated assistant. The system maintains its own situational awareness and uses traffic complexity to assess when to act, defer, or support the human ATCO. In simulated scenarios, the DA detected conflicts, predicted future traffic states, and adapted dynamically to human decisions-sometimes backing off, sometimes offering alternate resolutions. The key contribution isn't just technical-it's conceptual: the DA demonstrates the ability to share a mental model with the human and collaborate intelligently. This shows that AI can move beyond automation and into real teaming in high-stakes environments like air traffic control.

Modeling Visual Fatigue in Remote Tower Air Traffic Controllers: A Multimodal Physiological Data-Based Approach

By Ruihan Liang, Weijun Pan, Qinghai Zuo, Chen Zhang, Shenhao Chen, Sheng Chen and Leilei Deng

MDPI Aerospace

The team collected neurophysiological data from 36 ATCs during 1-hour, along with subjective fatigue questionnaires before and after the session. Then, they developed a machine learning algorithm to match the subjective fatigue level based on the physiological data. They obtained 92% accuracy in the fatigue classification.

Roadmap for Advanced Air Mobility Aircraft Type Certification V1.0

The National Aviation Authorities (NAA) from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States of America provided a roadmap to ensure type certification of novel AAM vehicles in the civilian airspace. Interesting aspects are that the authorities are seeking to build a similar certification basis between themselves and facilitate certification validation when an OEM applies to a different authority. The document acknowledges that the biggest difference in certification requirements is between the FAA's – on which Australia, Canada and New Zealand built upon – and the UK's that adopted the EASA SC-VTOL. The document also calls to follow performance-based requirements to replace current prescriptive airworthiness requirements. The NAA network wants to establish common means of compliance and follow industry consensus standards (ARP4754B, ARP4761A) to reduce the effort required for type certification and validation. The second version of this roadmap is scheduled for July of next year. An informed reader will notice that the EASA is not present in the network. Yet, the UK CAA follows the EASA guidance which shows that the approach piloted by the network could, one day, reach the European sky.

Comparison and validation of an immersive flight simulator using a virtual reality headset versus a professional simulator for novice pilots

Johan Rendy, Isabelle Milleville-Pennel, Cédric Dumas & Thierry Lebourque

Ergonomics

This study shows that a low-cost VR headset flight simulator, despite some limitations in haptic feedback and control precision, can match a high-fidelity professional cockpit simulator in training novice pilots on basic flight maneuvers. Both simulators produced similar mental workload, presence, and flight performance improvements over repeated sessions, without increasing simulator sickness. While the professional cockpit offered better spatial presence and stability in critical flight controls, the VR headset provided an effective, immersive, and practical alternative for early-stage pilot training. The findings support using affordable VR solutions to complement traditional simulators, with future work needed on long-term learning, real-flight transfer, and enhanced feedback mechanisms.

Relationships Between Pilot Gaze Patterns and Control Lapses in Challenging Instrument Approach Flight

By Alireza Ghaderi & Fariborz Saghafi

The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology

This research investigated how pilot gaze patterns relate to aircraft control during simulated instrument approaches, aiming to better understand visual attention's role in flight performance. Using uncalibrated, single-camera iris tracking on 15 pilots over 45 sessions in a high-fidelity Cessna 172 simulator, the study measured fixation duration, saccade frequency, scan variability, and spectral gaze characteristics. Results showed that more frequent saccades and flexible fixation patterns correlated with better control performance, while repetitive or prolonged fixations signaled reduced vigilance or increased cognitive load. Gaze variability and scan predictability also aligned with workload fluctuations. These findings underscore the value of dynamic visual scanning strategies for maintaining flight accuracy and suggest that real-time gaze tracking could inform training and cockpit design. The study demonstrates that even low-cost, non-intrusive eye tracking methods can reveal meaningful insights into pilot behavior, with potential applications for real-time monitoring and adaptive training systems.

Training UAS Pilots for Divided Attention Demands With Cognitive Tasks and NIST Courses

By Collin Scarince, Miguel Moreno, Madison Clausen and Tye Payne

Ergonomics in Design

The authors developed a verbal secondary task (based on visual detection change) and an auditory secondary task (with the forward digit span task) that can be used in parallel to flying UAS vehicles. In their study, 4 experienced UAS pilots completed a mission of target acquisition either alone (baseline), or with one of the two dual tasks. The authors found that performance decreased when dual tasking. Interestingly, they found that flight performance increased due to practicing in the dual-task condition before moving to flying without distraction. This offers a new method to train UAS pilots for workload management during multi-tasking that can be helpful in flight.

Investigating Transfer of Input Device Practice on Psychomotor Performance in an Aviation Selection Test

By Christopher Draheim, Nathan Herdener, Ericka Rovira, S. R. Melick, Richard Pak, Joseph T. Coyne and Ciara Sibley

Human Factors

Anyone that desires to become an aviator in the U.S. Navy must complete the Performance Based Measures Battery (PBM), a psychomotor test for which there is no training available online. In this study, the authors compared three groups of cadets that were trained to the PBM using either PC keyboard and mouse, sidestick and throttle, or watching an explanatory video. They found that training with either input device improved the 2D tracking task, but performance for the 1D lateral task was the worst when training with mouse and keyboard. It suggests that becoming familiar with the dynamics of the tracking task is more important than practicing with an input device. It also calls for offering training mechanisms to future cadets to improve their performance in their selection tests.

Quantifying Pilot Performance and Mental Workload in Modern Aviation Systems: A Scoping Literature Review

By Ainsley R. Kyle, Brock Rouser, Ryan C. Paul and Katherina A. Jurewicz

MDPI Aerospace

The authors used the PRISMA guidelines to conduct a scoping review of the different ways to measure pilot performance in the flight deck and the increased use of physiological indicators. Of the 90 papers with empirical results reviewed, they found out that 45% measured workload and 40% measured flight performance date. Surprisingly 70% of the papers surveyed used at least one physiological indicator to monitor pilot's workload, ECG being the most frequently used measure. Topics investigated by those studies were related to workload, automation interactions, attention, fatigue, and reduced crew operations.

In the News

Space

Space Force Accepts New GPS Control System After Years of Delays. On July 1st, the Space Force took control of the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) provided by RTX (formerly Raytheon). Integration with existing systems are underway and OCX should enter into operations later this year. It includes the new generation of GPS satellites (GPS block III), their command and control, along with advanced technological capabilities like anti-jamming, improved accuracy, and secure geolocation. OCX development has been longer than expected and coding the system software proved to be complex and intricate.

Laser rangefinder problems blamed for second ispace lunar lander crash

Company executives said a review of the failed landing by its Resilience spacecraft June 5 led it to conclude that the laser rangefinder on the spacecraft suffered a hardware problem of some kind that kept it from providing timely data on the lander's altitude. The laser rangefinder was designed to provide altitude data when the spacecraft was at least three kilometers above the surface, triggering engines for the final landing burn. However, the unit did not provide its first altitude measurement until it was less than 900 meters high.

Aviation

The case for cockpit voice recorder in light jet and video recorder in large aircraft. Despite their proven value in uncovering crash causes and preventing future accidents, most small aircraft still lack flight recorders. Why? The FAA must justify such safety mandates through cost-benefit analyses - a process that can delay or block action, even when the safety case is clear. As recent tragedies highlight, the true cost of inaction is often only revealed too late.

JSfirm Creates Searchable Airmen Database. JSfirm released a searchable airmen database that enables companies to seek out professionals by category, location, rating/type, and last name. The search tool covers a range of categories, from pilot and dispatch to maintenance and UAV/UAS.

eVTOL

Beta Technologies has reached a key milestone in its incremental certification strategy with the FAA's type certification of a Hartzell propeller designed specifically for its electric aircraft. The five-bladed, carbon fiber propeller-tested over four years on Beta's Alia CX300-will also be used on the company's Alia 250 eVTOL and could serve other advanced air mobility (AAM) manufacturers. The approval validates processes critical for Beta's upcoming electric motor and aircraft certifications. Beta aims to certify the CX300 in 2025 and the eVTOL in 2026, with real-world flight testing already underway.

Asia-Pacific Regulators Issue eVTOL Air Taxi and Drone Guidance. Civil authorities from 24 states – including China, Japan and Australia – released a joint document presenting their guidance to certify new eVTOL air taxis. The group has also shared its guidance with the ICAO proposing its adoption by other states. It comes at the same time as the National Aviation Authorities (NAA)'s roadmap on the certification of AAM mentioned previously in this newsletter.

DARPA Selects Bell for Next Phase of HSVTOL Development

Bell has been selected for Phase 2 of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane program with the objective to complete design, construction, ground testing and certification of an X-plane demonstrator. During Phase 1A and 1B of the SPRINT program, Bell competed with Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences. Northrop Grumman and Piasecki Aircraft were also involved in Phase 1 of the process. The goal of the program is to provide these aircraft with the ability to cruise at speeds from 400 to 450 knots at relevant altitudes and hover in austere environments from unprepared surfaces. In Phase 1A and 1B, Bell completed conceptual and preliminary design efforts for the SPRINT X-plane. Phase 2 includes detailed design and build culminating in flight test during Phase 3.

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Srishti Rawal
Graduate student in cognitive engineering
Department of Industrial Engineering
Polytechnique Montreal
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