SBIR-STTR Award

This proposal is a direct response to an NIH-stated need for a system to "simulate piloting aircraft under hypothetical or actual drinking handicaps and designed to predict fatal and nonfatal accident involvement". This requirement, released by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, recognizes that alcohol plays a significant role in serious (fatal) aircraft accidents in all three major aviation sectors: general, commercial and military. At present, effects of alcohol on piloting skills are paid little attention in typical flight training programs. However, there is ample evidence that pilot training is most effectively done by having student pilots actually experience the flight conditions and requirements they must learn. Further, the Federal Aviation Administration has, for several years, certified the use of various types of flight simulators for training purposes. These flight simulators have been used very effectively, and are particularly useful in providing student pilots with experiences which might be unduly dangerous to attempt in actual flight conditions. This project is intended to lead to development of an Alcohol Effects Simulator (AES) which can augment existing flight simulators and mimic the consequences of flight under the effects of varying degrees of alcohol consumption. This will be done by performing a series of controlled experiments using prescribed flight protocols on a flight simulator without alcohol consumption (control) and with alcohol consumption (test groups). Deviations from the control conditions will be determined and implemented in the AES, which can then be used to teach sober pilots the likely effects of flight under the influence of alcohol as a function of amount consumed and time since consumption (as reflected by blood alcohol levels). The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, has recognized that alcohol plays a significant role in serious (fatal) aircraft accidents in all three major aviation sectors: general, commercial and military. Pilot training in this area is clearly inadequate, and is best addressed by hands-on learning experience. The proposed product development will lead to development of an Alcohol Effects Simulator (AES) which can augment existing flight simulator training programs and mimic the consequences of flight under the effects of varying degrees of alcohol consumption.

Thesaurus Terms:
alcoholic beverage consumption, aviation, computer simulation, driving while intoxicated, training behavioral /social science research tag, blood test, breath test, clinical research

This proposal is a direct response to an NIH-stated requirement for a system to ""simulate piloting aircraft under hypothetical or actual drinking handicaps"". This requirement, released by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, recognizes that alcohol plays a significant role in serious (fatal) aircraft accidents in all three major aviation sectors: general, commercial and military. Effects of alcohol on piloting skills are paid little attention in typical flight training programs. However, there is ample evidence that pilot training is most effectively done by having student pilots actually experience the flight conditions they must learn. The Federal Aviation Administration has certified the use of various types of flight simulators for training purposes. These flight simulators have been used very effectively, and are particularly useful in providing student pilots with experiences which might be unduly dangerous to attempt in actual flight conditions. This project will lead to development of an Alcohol Effects Flight Simulator (AEFS) Trainer, which can augment flight simulators and mimic the consequences of flight under the effects of varying degrees of alcohol consumption. This will be done by performing a series of controlled experiments using prescribed flight protocols on a flight simulator without alcohol consumption (control) and with alcohol consumption (test groups). Deviations from the control conditions will be determined and implemented in the AEFS Trainer, which can then be used to teach sober pilots the likely effects of flight under the influence of alcohol as a function of amount consumed and time since consumption (as reflected by blood alcohol levels). The AEFS Trainer will be a comprehensive training package, formatted to be familiar to pilots and consistent with the nature of other pilot training supplements. It can be used independently or with instruction, and can be used to view intoxicated pilot performance in real flight-time (both by video and computer-playable flight simulator files), to experience the simulation of some of the impairments that accrue to elevated blood alcohol content (BAC), or to compare actual intoxicated simulator flight profiles with mean data accumulated in our experimental databases. This Phase II project comprises two main experiment tracks: 1) experiments with intoxicated pilots to determine real reactions to elevated BAC in a wide variety of flight regimes, and 2) training experiments with the AEFS Trainer to investigate short and long-term behavior modification in pilot drinking habits. This project produced impressive Phase I results that have yielded new findings about the behavior of intoxicated pilots. The Phase II project will build on that work with the efforts of a very strong and diverse team. Personnel for this project encompass skill sets including: "" research project management "" SBIR product commercialization "" experiment design "" data reduction and analysis "" software development "" medicine "" clinical psychology "" alcohol behavior modification "" aeronautics/simulation "" flight training/education

Public Health Relevance:
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, has recognized that alcohol plays a significant role in serious (fatal) aircraft accidents in all major aviation sectors. Pilot training in this area is clearly inadequate, and is best addressed by hands-on learning experience. The proposed product development will lead to the Alcohol Effects Flight Simulator (AEFS) Trainer, augmenting existing flight simulator training programs to mimic or demonstrate piloting while intoxicated.

Thesaurus Terms:
Accidents, Aviation; Address; Aircraft; Aircraft Accidents; Alcohol Drinking; Alcohol Abuse; Alcohol Consumption; Alcoholism; Alcohols; Altitude; Archives; Area; Armed Forces Personnel; Attention; Aviation; Awareness; Awarenesses; Behavior; Behavior Conditioning Therapy; Behavior Modification; Behavior Therapy; Behavior Treatment; Behavior Or Life Style Modifications; Behavioral Conditioning Therapy; Behavioral Modification; Behavioral Therapy; Behavioral Treatment; Blood Alcohol Content; Blood Alcohol Level Measurement; Chemical Class, Alcohol; Clinical Psychology; Computers; Conditioning Therapy; Consumption; Data; Data Banks; Data Bases; Databank, Electronic; Databanks; Database, Electronic; Databases; Development; Disabled Persons; Disabled Population; Educational Process Of Instructing; Etoh Drinking; Goals; Habits; Hand; Handicapped; Human Resources; Impairment; Infirmity; Institutes; Instruction; Internet; Intoxication; Journals; Lead; Learning; Life Style Modification; Magazine; Manpower; Manuscripts; Measures; Medicine; Military; Military Personnel; Nature; Pb Element; People With Disabilities; Performance; Persons With Disabilities; Phase; Play; Preparation; Protocol; Protocols Documentation; Psychology, Clinical; Publications; R01 Mechanism; R01 Program; Rpg; Reaction; Research; Research Grants; Research Project Grants; Research Projects; Research Projects, R-Series; Role; Sbir; Sbirs (R43/44); Science Of Medicine; Scientific Publication; Series; Simulate; Small Business Innovation Research; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Students; System; System, Loinc Axis 4; Teaching; Technology; Testing; Time; Training; Training Programs; Training And Education; Www; Work; Alcohol Behavior; Alcohol Effect; Alcohol Induced Behavior; Alcohol Ingestion; Alcohol Intake; Alcohol Problem; Alcohol Product Use; Alcohol Related Behavior; Alcohol Use; Alcoholic Beverage Consumption; Alcoholic Drink Intake; Behavior Intervention; Behavioral Intervention; Blood Alcohol Concentration; Blood Alcohol Level; Clinical Data Repository; Clinical Data Warehouse; Commercialization; Data Repository; Design; Designing; Develop Software; Developing Computer Software; Disabled; Disabled People; Drinking; Ethanol Abuse; Ethanol Behavior; Ethanol Consumption; Ethanol Drinking; Ethanol Effect; Ethanol Induced Behavior; Ethanol Ingestion; Ethanol Intake; Ethanol Product Use; Ethanol Related Behavior; Ethanol Use; Etoh Use; Experience; Experiment; Experimental Research; Experimental Study; Handicapping; Handicapping Condition; Hazardous Alcohol Use; Heavy Metal Pb; Heavy Metal Lead; Improved; New Approaches; Novel Approaches; Novel Strategies; Novel Strategy; Personnel; Problem Drinking; Product Development; Public Health Relevance; Relational Database; Research Study; Response; Simulation; Skills; Sober; Sobriety; Social Role; Software Development; Tool; Web; World Wide Web