Establishing best practices in the use of an upgraded airborne teaching laboratory

Steven Daniels, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cranfield University (UK)
Guy Gratton, Associate Professor of Aviation and the Environment, Cranfield University (UK)

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the National Flying Laboratory Centre has used the Jetstream family of aircraft as a flying classroom to provide university students and developing professionals with real-world exposure to practical flight test instruction. Recently the Jetstream was replaced with a newer Saab-340b.

The objective of this work was to give an experimentally derived analysis of a representative flying classroom module using NFLC’s Jetstream-3102 aircraft, to compare it with what is known to be effective aviation pedagogy, and draw systemic recommendations for improvement as part of the learning process leading up to its Saab-340b replacement. Flights were observed, and participating students (N=60) were surveyed to prevailing moods, and task workload.

A pen and paper test, comparing what participants learned compared to a control group was also administered. Results showed a module that was engaging and promoted critical thinking largely as intended, as well as two vulnerabilities that the newer Saab-340b will likely be able to address:

1) Passenger capacity, now too small to handle the volume of students on modern aero-engineering courses, affecting pedagogy through scheduling conflicts that arise from a higher number of flights that apply further pressures on aircraft maintenance and staff time.

2) Despite task loading indices showing students had spare work capacity, an initial first flight was essential in developing a situational awareness in the following exercises.

The data suites onboard the Jetstream-3201 were no longer sufficient to aid that familiarisation any faster, and upgrades were relatively cost-prohibitive to install into that airframe.

This paper concludes how sensitive to disturbances in procedure aviation training is, emphasising the need to keep the facility up-to-date to cope with modern teaching demands.