News from the Carleton ACE Lab

Kathleen Van Benthem, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carleton University Advanced Cognative Engineering Lab (ACE), who has spoken to COPA Flight 8 in the past, recently send news about the Aging Pilot Study.

The study is complete and four videos have been produced that outline the project and its results.

Van Benthem writes:

It has been a while, but I am finally finished the Cessna study at Carleton U! We were very fortunate in that SmartPilot.ca came out last fall and made some professional videos about the lab and this study (much better than our homemade ones!). You will find the videos here (no login in required).:

The four videos presented cover:

• The people of the aging pilot study
• Understanding the study
• So what? Lessons learned
• About the Lab

Van Benthem also noted that a recent Carleton article has focused on the work done at the ACE lab by several grad students, including the work of Chris Nicholson, a psychology PhD student who is interested in how flight simulator motion affects pilot training.

In that same article Van Benthem summarized the findings of the aging pilot study:

Research at the ACE lab showed that, although older pilots did show poorer results on some aspects of flight performance when compared to younger pilots, some of the effects of age were reduced by having higher levels of expertise. "This emphasizes the need for continued upgrading of skills throughout the pilot lifespan," says Van Benthem.

She also notes: "I am also happy to say that we are working on finding the funding to continue this work, and develop a GA-purposed cognitive health screening tool."

Flight 8 would like to congratulate Kathleen Van Benthem on completing the study!

SmartPilot.ca – Progress Report After 4 Months Live

Media Release

Canada’s single source web portal for all things related to flying safely has now been live for four months and is taking flight! The site is a one-stop source for information, interactive courses and content rich videos – all focussed on helping pilots stay fresh and current about flight operations. And as our registered users have found, the site is open and free to all. The material is applicable to all levels of pilots from student through to senior.

Since launching on 1 May 2013 we already have 528 registered users of the portal. While registration is not mandatory, it does allow on-line access to some features and also includes updates on new materials. In total since launching, we had just over 6,000 visits to the SmartPilot.ca web portal, of which 3,052 were unique visitors. This has resulted in 27,172 pages views or an average of 4.3 pages per visitor. These numbers illustrate the need and interest from Canada’s aviation community for flight safety material and self-improvement.

New materials continue to be developed for SmartPilot.ca. To date, SmartPilot.ca has created and posted 5 unique new video segments. These are in addition to the vast array of older, yet still pertinent materials posted. The new, purpose developed films cover:

Mountain Flying

• Mountain Flying Intro
• Navigation
• Density Altitude
• Weather
• The 180° Turn
• Tips
• Lessons Learned

Aircraft Egress

• Aircraft Egress
• Aircraft Egress Tips
• Preparing for an Emergency Water Landing

Uncontrolled Aerodromes

• Uncontrolled Aerodromes Introduction
• Departing an MF Aerodrome
• Landing at an MF Aerodrome
• Departing an ATF Aerodrome
• Landing at an ATF Aerodrome

Other new material includes floatplanes, detailing both the preflight and passenger briefing and one on winter survival that provides information on a variety of aspects related to winter survival when something goes wrong.

About future initiatives, project lead Ted Rankine stated, "In final production and due for release soon is a much anticipated and requested series on Upset Training. Numbering 5 videos in total, our plans currently are to have these posted by late October 2013. Additionally the French variant on Mountain Flying should be up shortly as well."

Rankine also observes that "In addition to the web portal, SmartPilot.ca has put social media to work in promoting safe flight awareness and education. Both Facebook and Twitter accounts have been created and garnered a good following. On these pages, we post several times a week with links to videos, articles and training materials from the site. Collectively, this is getting the message out and noticed, and is helping to achieve the project goal of promoting safe and consistent aviation operations in many aspects of general aviation flying. Our associates and co-developers are as thrilled as I am with the response so far. Pilots of all skill levels are getting a lot out of this effort we hear – and best of all, it's all free!"

External link

• SmartPilot.ca

SmartPilot.ca, the single source web portal for safe flying is live!

Media Release

Canada’s single source web portal for all things related to flying safely is now live! This site is a one-stop source for information, interactive courses and videos, all focused on helping pilots stay fresh and current.

Best of all, use of the site is open and free to all. The website has information for all levels of pilots, from student to experienced aviator.

Through the financial support of the Government of Canada, under the Search and Rescue New Initiative Fund (SAR NIF), SmartPilot.ca has been several years in the making and encompasses a wide variety of aviation subjects.

Examples of the site content include airmanship, human factors, flight training, specialty aircraft (including float flying and ultralights), avionics, maintenance, weather, navigation, search and rescue and much more.

The project has been developed in co-operation with many leading sources and associations including Transport Canada, The Transportation Safety Board, Canadian Aviation Search and Rescue Association and a board of advisers of recognized aviation community leaders.

The content and site functionality was also the subject of rigourous focus group research over several sessions. According to project development leader Ted Rankine, "this is a well advanced site that allows access materials quickly from a single source. In the past accessing such material involved lots of search time on the web. We have eliminated that and bring everything within a click or two. We have sourced and posted materials that serve to inform, educate and encourage safe flying under all circumstances. Just the ability to do your Recency test on-line with us in a self-paced manner and get the certificate instantly is a step in helping pilots."

SmartPilot.ca will continue to be updated, with new articles, purpose-designed videos and courses added. Working with the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) and the US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), SmartPilot.ca has made it easy for users to quickly find information, including the AOPA Safety Institute courses. Upcoming COPA projects are expected to be added, too. Similar co-operative relationships with other organizations will result in additional articles being made available through the SmartPilot.ca portal in the future.

As Rankine says, "SmartPilot.ca does not replace recognized training from an established flight education institution. It is, however, a great way for people to build their knowledge and keep up to date about flight safety matters and procedures. If just one life is saved by something that was taken in through our site, we have done our job."

For additional information or comment, please visit the website. SmartPilot.ca is also found on Facebook and Twitter.

External link

• SmartPilot.ca