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Volpe Center Highlights - February 2000SafetyDirector's Notes |
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Safety |
Mobility |
Human and Natural Environment |
Volpe Expert Participates in FAA's Public Meeting on the Continued Airworthiness of the General Aviation Fleet (FAA) As an invitee of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Dr. Kemal Arin of the Vehicle Crashworthiness Division attended a public meeting sponsored by the Small Airplane Directorate held in Kansas City, Missouri, from January 11 to 12, 2000. The purpose of this meeting was to provide a forum for the FAA and the aviation community to discuss all issues related to the increasing age of the general aviation fleet. The attendees included owners/operators, suppliers, type certificate holders, and supporters of aircraft and the FAA staff. To facilitate discussions, meeting participants were grouped into three sessions to address issues involving aircraft from active manufacturers, aircraft from inactive manufacturers, and aircraft from manufacturers that no longer exist. The results of these sessions were discussed and summarized in general sessions. Dr. Arin explained the advantages of the concept of damage tolerance for these aircraft and was able to address concerns expressed by participants. Several attendees subsequently requested copies of the Damage Tolerance Assessment Handbook and the video, Damage Tolerance: An Introduction, both prepared by the Volpe Center for the FAA. As a representative of the Center, Dr. Arin demonstrated our staff's expertise not only on technical issues but also in the important area of consensus building and participatory change. The outcome of this meeting and future directions will be addressed in a letter to be issued by the Small Airplane Directorate's Standards Office. Preparation for Wright Brothers Centennial
On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers made their historic flight from Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. To celebrate the centennial of the flight, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is planning to publish a special series of papers in their archival journals. Each journal will carry histories of key technologies in a number of technical areas. The Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Journal of Aircraft has invited Dr. James Hallock, Chief of the Aviation Safety Division, to prepare a paper on aircraft wake vortices from the time of the Wright Brothers (who observed wake vortices in their wind tunnel) up until today. Dr. Hallock is the author of a 1990 report entitled "Aircraft Wake Vortices An Annotated Bibliography (1923-1990)." This bibliography has been brought up to date and is available on the Volpe Center Web site at http//www.volpe.dot.gov/wv/wv-bib.html. Volpe Studies the Effects of Amtrak Rulebook Consolidation (FRA) The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has established a cooperative agreement with Amtrak to support the rail carrier's efforts to consolidate its safety rulebooks. Amtrak is involving both unions and management in a participatory process to carry out the consolidation. The rail carrier believes this process will improve the safety climate across the organization. At the same time, the Volpe Center is supporting the FRA by documenting safety improvements that are expected to result from consolidating the rulebooks, and by developing a research strategy for monitoring and assessing those changes. As part of their preliminary work, Dr. Joyce Ranney of the Change Management Division and Dr. Mary Stearns of the Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division have successfully developed the institutional interfaces that are necessary to create a team made up of the different parties involved in the rulebook changes. They developed methods of collaboration, and instigated a process to study the effects of Amtrak's rulebook consolidation on safety behavior at Amtrak. Their research measures safety behaviors before and following implementation of the consolidated rulebook. To initiate this research, Dr. Ranney and Dr. Stearns have been working with Amtrak's Boston Operations, and will begin to collect baseline data in February 2000. This work is part of the FRA's Safety Research Program, which is managed by Dr. Jordan Multer of the Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division. By bringing together human factors and organizational change skills, the project exemplifies the Volpe Center's ability to work across disciplines. "ITS Technology at Highway-Rail Intersections: Putting It To the Test"Transmitted for Publication (FHWA) On January 19, 2000, Ms. Anya Carroll of the Accident Prevention Division submitted a final report entitled "ITS Technology at Highway-Rail Intersections: Putting It to the Test" to the DOT's Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS/JPO). The report details the proceedings from the ITS/JPO Highway-Rail Intersection (HRI) Evaluation Workshop held at the Volpe Center from May 6 to 7, 1999. At the workshop, nearly 60 officials from the public and the private sectors met to discuss ITS/HRI projects currently deployed or under development. Seven nationwide demonstration project sites were discussed, representing sites in California, Maryland, Texas, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York. There were also several panel discussions covering comparative analyses, ITS implementation issues, ITS passive grade crossing issues, and ONE DOT next steps. Participating speakers represented both headquarters and field staff from numerous modal administrations within DOT, university and private sector project evaluators, state DOTs, railroads and transit authorities, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Volpe Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Generally, both public and private stakeholders agreed that the application of integrated technology at HRIs is the focus of the future and that the HRI program needs to be continued and expanded. The report will be published as an electronic document and available through the ITS/JPO's Electronic Document Library. |
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