• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.46-54
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• 2023

Helicopter pilots are required to perform many visual workloads in topographical avoidance, flight path modification and navigation, because helicopters operate at very low altitudes. The helicopter-specific instability also require the pilot to have precise perception and control. This has caused frequent human error in helicopter accidents. In Korea, two to three cases have occurred annually on average over the past 10 years, and this trend has not decreased. The purpose of this study was to identify human error risks in advance to prevent helicopter accidents and to help develop measures for missions and mission phases with high risk of human error. Through the study, the tasks and mission phases where accidents occur frequently were classified and the risk of human error was calculated for each mission phases. To this end, the task of frequent accidents during helicopter missions was first identified, detailed steps were classified, and the number of accidents was analyzed. Next, the AHP survey program was developed to measure the pilot's risk of human error and the survey was conducted on the pilots. Finally, the risk of human error by helicopter mission and by mission phases calculated and compared with the actual number of accidents.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.21-31
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• 2020

There are two to three helicopter accidents every year in Korea, representing 5.7 deaths per 100,000 flights. In this study, an analysis was conducted on helicopter accidents that occurred in Korea from 2005 to 2017. The accident analysis was based on the aircraft accident and incident report published by the Aircraft and Railway Accident Investigation Board. This Research analyzed the characteristics of accidents occurring in Korea caused by human error by pilots. Accident analysis was done by classifying the organization, flight mission, aircraft class, flight stage, accident cause, etc. Pilot's huan error was classified as Skill-based error, decision error and perceptual error in accordance with the HFACS taxonomy. The accidents caused by pilot's human error were classified into five categories: powerlines collision, loss of control, fuel exhaustion, unstable approach to reservoir, and elimination of tail rotor.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2024

The majority of civil aviation accidents are caused by human factors, and especially for rotary-wing aircraft, accidents often occur in situations where pilots unexpectedly or unintentionally enter into instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC). This research analyzed the error rates of rotary-wing aircraft pilots under low visibility conditions from various angles to gain insights into flight characteristics and to explore measures to reduce accidents in IIMC situations. The occurrence rate of errors by pilots under low visibility conditions was examined using a flight simulator equipped with motion, with 65 pilots participating in the experiment. Flight data obtained through the experiment were used to aggregate and analyze the number of errors under various conditions, such as reductions in flight visibility, the presence or absence of spatial disorientation, and the pilot's qualifications. The analysis revealed peculiarities in flight characteristics under various conditions, and significant differences were found in the rate of error occurrence according to the pilot's qualification level, possession of instrument flight rules (IFR) qualifications, and during different phases of flight. The results of this research are expected to contribute significantly to the prevention of aircraft accidents in IIMC situations by improving pilot education and training programs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.122-129
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• 2020

Korea's HEMS are mainly operated during the week, but they are pushing for 24-hour operations. This study has made an overall comparison and review of helicopter safety management that should be accompanied to this end. For research purposes, helicopter regulations and helicopter accident statistics were analyzed, with a high accident rate associated with pilot error and night flight. It was proposed that future preparations would require reinforcement of laws and regulations, reinforcement of pilots' night training, and introduction of training and preflight risk assessments. This study will provide a direction for future helicopter safety. This study will provide for future direction of helicopter safety research.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2010

This study was to analyze the difference in pilot error by using the Signal Detection Theory. The task was to detect the targeted aircraft(signal) which is different shape from many other aircraft(noise). From the two experiments, we differentiated the task difficulty followed by change in noise stimuli. Experiment 1 was to search the signal stimuli(fighter plane) while the noise stimuli(cargo plane) were increasing. The results from the Experiment 1 showed the tendency to decrease the hit rate by increasing the number of noise stimuli. However, the false alarm rate was not increased. The sensitivity(d') showed quite high. In Experiment 2, a disturbance stimulus(helicopter) was added to noise stimuli. The result was generally similar to those of Experiment 1. However, the hit rate was lower than that of Experiment 1.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.44-54
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• 2022

An empirical analysis was conducted on the workload of helicopter pilots flying in high-risk flight environments such as ground obstacles and weather effects at low altitudes. To evaluate the workload, an independent sample t-test was performed using the NASA-TLX evaluation method most suitable for the aviation field, and the workload score was calculated by applying the analytical stratification method (AHP) to compare and analyze private and commercial pilots. There is a significant difference in mean between private and commercial pilots and the result of work load was obtained over 70%. This paper studied the 'surprise and startle effect' on the helicopter field for the first time. In the future, it is intended to contribute to the safe operation of helicopters by presenting a method for effective safety management by utilizing it in the field of education and training for helicopter pilots and providing basic data for preventing accidents caused by human error.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.391-395
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• 2023

Helicopter accidents due to spatial disorientation in low visibility conditions continue to persist as a major issue. These incidents often stem from human error, typically induced by stress, and frequently result in fatal outcomes. This study employs machine learning to analyze flight data and evaluate the efficacy of a flight illusion detection algorithm, laying groundwork for further research. This study collected flight data from approximately 20 pilots using a simulated flight training device to construct a range of flight scenarios. These scenarios included three stages of flight: ascending, level, and descent, and were further categorized into good visibility conditions and 0-mile visibility conditions. The aim was to investigate the occurrence of flight illusions under these conditions. From the extracted data, we obtained a total of 54,000 time-series data points, sampled five times per second. These were then analyzed using a machine learning approach.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2009

In the environment where various and complicated threat signals exist, RWR (Radar Warning Receiver), which can warn pilot of the existence of threats, has long been a necessary electronic warfare (EW) system to improve survivability of aircraft. The angle of arrival (AOA) information, the most reliable sorting parameter in the RWR, is measured by means of four-quadrant amplitude comparison direction finding (DF) technique. Each of four antennas (usually spiral antenna) of DF unit covers one of four quadrant zones, with 90 degrees apart with nearby antenna. According to the location of antenna installed in helicopter, RWR is subject to signal loss and interference by helicopter body and structures including tail bumper, rotor blade, and so on, causing a difficulty of detecting hostile emitters. In this paper, the performance degradation caused by signal interference by tail rotor blades has been estimated by measuring amplitude video signals into which RWR converts RF signals in case a part of antenna is screened by real tail rotor blade in anechoic chamber. The results show that corruption of pulse amplitude (PA) is main cause of DF error. We have proposed two algorithms for resolving the interference by tail rotor blades as below: First, expand the AOA group range for pulse grouping at the first signal analysis phase. Second, merge each of pulse trains with the other, that signal parameter except PRI and AOA is similar, after the first signal analysis phase. The presented method makes it possible to use RWR by reducing interference caused by blade screening in case antenna is screened by tail rotor blades.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1103-1111
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• 2014

The results of control law design for a tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle that has a nacelle mounted wing extension (WE) are presented in this paper. It consists of a control surface mixer, stability and control augmentation system (SCAS), hold mode for altitude / speed / heading, and a guidance mode for preprogram and point navigation which includes automatic take-off and landing. The conversion corridor and the control moments derivatives between the original tilt-rotor and its variant of the nacelle mounted WE were compared to show the effectiveness of the WE. The nacelle conversion of the original tilt-rotor starts when the airspeed is greater than 30 km/h but its WE variant starts at 0 km/h in order to reduce the drag caused by the high incidence angle of the WE. The stability margins of the inner loop are presented with the optimization approach. The outer loops for the hold mode are designed with trial and error methods with linear and nonlinear simulation. The main control parameter for altitude control of the helicopter mode is thrust command and it is transferred to the pitch attitude command in airplane mode. Otherwise, the control parameter for the speed of the helicopter mode is the pitch attitude command and it is transferred to the thrust command in airplane mode. Therefore the speed and altitude hold mode are coupled to each other and are engaged at the same time when an internal pilot engages any of the altitude or speed hold modes. The nonlinear simulation results of the guidance control for the preprogrammed mode and point navigation are also presented including automatic take-off and landing in order to prove the full control law.