NASA Funding Supports Embry-Riddle Program Studying Human Performance

NASA funding is used to support a research team at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) studying human performance in pilot training using positive reinforcement on the flight deck.

When Kristy Kiernan was a flight instructor in the U.S. Coast Guard she made it a point to not only correct mistakes made by trainees but also to reinforce their positive actions. Later, as the Associate Director of the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at ERAU, her Coast Guard experience made her recognize that a knowledge gap existed in studying pilot performance.

She saw that plenty of flight data are gathered on technical failures and human errors but very little information exists about what flight crews do right.

But with the assistance of a $410,000 grant from NASA, Kiernan and her team of undergrad and grad students are performing research to understand, evaluate, and reinforce positive human performance on the flight deck in commercial aviation.

The project was started in 2023 and with a previous NASA grant its total funding stands at more than $700,000.

Kiernan, also an Associate Professor in the College of Aviation pointed out, “Human behavior is a huge source of resilience, adaptability and flexibility. And if we are not able to study that positive performance in as systematic a way as we have studied error, then we are missing a huge opportunity.”

The research is intended to improve pilot training using, for example video replays of simulator sessions so pilots can look at their own performance, reflect on it, and learn from it. The overall goal is to give pilots and instructors more tools for training and for safer and smoother flights.

FMI:  news.erau.edu/