Bill Rantz and Bob Helmreich at the
7th AAvPA Safety Symposium in Manly NSW Australia
I attended the 7th Australian Aviation
Psychology Association Symposium in early November 2006. This was my third time
presenting at the AAvPA conference. Dr.
Robert Helmreich and many other leaders in aviation psychology were present.
Discussions included the LOSA (Line Oriented Safety Audit) data base and trends
in managing threats and errors (TEM) in aviation. Further discussion included
the continuing transition of TEM human factors to other industries such as medicine
and rail. The future seems to be organizing and administrating safety management
systems (SMS) perhaps with an evolving TEM approach. This is exactly the type
of focus that behavior-based safety and process systems analysis can lend to
enhance SMS.
Bill Rantz presenting his current research regarding the use
of the science of behavior principles in IFR procedures in a flight training
environment at the 7th AAvPA Safety Symposium in Manly.
My colleague, Brett Molesworth Ph.D. is a faculty member at
the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia.
Brett gave me a tour of campus and I met with the staff and some
students in the Department of Aviation. They limit the number of students admitted
into the flight program at 30 per semester. Flight training is conducted at
Bankston Airport in NSW. The Department of Aviation at UNSW has approximately
300 undergraduate and 300 graduate students.
Dr. Molesworth's personal computer aviation training device
(PC-ATD)
The PC-ATD is configured with X-plane software running on 2 computers.
The first runs the software for flight instruments (viewed on the computer monitor)
and recording pilot performance while the second handles the visuals which are
projected on a large screen in front of the windows of the PC-ATD. This is a
very effective, low cost approach to pilot performance data collection. Brett
and I have agreed to begin collaborative research in the field of reciprocitive
effects of transitional training between EFIS panel equipped training aircraft
and analog panel equipped training aircraft.
I stayed across the bay from Sydney in Kirribilli. This is
the view walking across the Harbor Bay Bridge. I didn't need to shoo any roos
from the bridge on my way over.
The conference was held in the Pacific Hotel. This picture
was taken out of my room showing the early morning view of the beach at Manly.
wgr 12/11/06