Nicoletta Fala

RESEARCH PROJECTS

• Research Statement

Phases of flight identification in General Aviation operations using G1000 flight data

We defined rule-based logic and developed algorithms to automatically identify the phase of flight at each instance in flight data. The challenge of this work was in the inconsistency of general aviation flights, and in particular training operations. We used G1000 flight data from Cessna 172 and Cirrus SR-20 training flights to evaluate the algorithms.

Detecting safety events in General Aviation operations using G1000 flight data

I developed methods to detect safety events (i.e. events that can put the outcome of the flight at risk) in flight data. I demonstrated the developed algorithms on five safety events during the approach phase of flight and used a statistical analysis to compare the presence of each safety event in our data set.

Low-cost AHRS implementations in General Aviation operations

In this project, we collected AHRS data using low-cost methods, and evaluated the feasibility of using such data in safety analysis applications. We used a Stratux device and two different smartphones with applications developed in-house to collect sensor data and information in flight, and then used machine learning methods to calculate AHRS information and emulate G1000 data behaviors.

Environmental impact of End-Around-Taxiways

We modeled the fuel burn of different engine and airliner combinations and used ASD-X surface data from DTW, DFW, and ATL, to evaluate whether using the end-around-taxiway to taxi to the gate after landing impacted performance in terms of time to taxi and fuel to taxi in different flow configurations.

Analysis of helicopter maintenance risk

In this work, we used historical helicopter accident data from the NTSB accident database to identify the most frequent unsafe maintenance actions (maintenance errors and violations). We investigated maintenance-related causes, factors, and events, to distinguish maintenance-related accidents, and we looked at accident data from 1982 to 2013.

Cultural differences in weather attitudes

I collaborated with a UK-based researcher at Imperial College London to construct and disseminate a scenariobased survey to evaluate differences in understanding of and attitudes towards weather-related products and decision making in different flight missions.