What does the crash of Federal Express (FedEx) Flight 1478 tell us about the role of defective colour vision in aviation?

Transcription

1 What does the crash of Federal Express (FedEx) Flight 1478 tell us about the role of defective colour vision in aviation? Arthur Pape (MBBS) Boris Crassini (BA[Hons], PhD)

2 Disclosure Information 84 th Annual AsMA Scientific Meeting Arthur M Pape & Boris Crassini No financial interest of any kind to declare. No discussion of off-label and/or investigational use.

3 What does the crash of (FedEx) Flight 1478 tell us about the role of defective colour vision in aviation? Links an aviation accident with colour vision defect (CVD). Used to justify more stringent colour vision testing. Changes in the colour vision standard impact on many pilots with CVD.

4 Outline of presentation Relevant information about crash, highlighting a puzzle. The NTSB s awareness of and explanation of the puzzle. Propose an alternative explanation, with supporting evidence. Two answers to the question in the title.

5 Flight 1478 approach path 3⁰ o 30 2 o 50 3 o 10 3 o 30 July 26 th, Altitude above mean sea level (Feet) PAPI Lights Displayed Time of impact 0537: :35 Time PAPI turned on PAPI Light Box East Position (Nautical Miles) Runway 09 Elevation 81 feet

6 Pictorial representation of the puzzle Distance from Runway 9 Theoretical PAPI appearance Glide path as if PAPI appearance ~4.0 nm ~3.5 nm ~2.5 nm

7 Did the NTSB Report explain this puzzle? NTSB Report indicates awareness of the puzzle. Aircrew fatigue, failure to follow procedures implicit explanations of the puzzle. Is there an alternative explanation of the puzzle?

8 Factors that influence appearance of PAPI lights Clark & Gordon s idea of cross talk with PAPI lights. Internal causes of cross talk e.g., lens contamination. External causes of cross talk, e.g., airborne factors. Clark & Gordon s idea of fail unsafe.

9 Is cross talk of relevance in explaining the crash? PAPI was functioning, but No ecological validity. Were internal causes of cross talk present? Yes. Were external causes of cross talk present? Yes. Did the PAPI on RWY 9 fail unsafe? Probable.

10 What does the crash of FedEx Flight 1478 tell us about the role of defective colour vision in aviation? Not much! Second question: What does the crash of Flight 1478 tell us about the role of colour in aviation? Presentation of information in aviation based solely on colour is problematic and should be avoided

11 Bibliography 1. NTSB/AAR-04/02. PB Notation 7501B Adopted June 8, B.A.J. Clark and J.E. Gordon. Hazards of Colour Coding in Visual Approach Slope Indicators. Dec Department of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Aeronautical Research Laboratories. ARL-SYS-REPORT Federal Aviation Administration Cert Alert 02-08, December Millar, Jane. Guidelines For the Evaluation of Visual Approach Slope Indicators Department of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Aeronautical Research Laboratories. ARL-SYS-REPORT Millar. Jane. An Analytical Comparison of Three Visual Approach Slope Indicators: VASIS, T-VASIS and PAPI. Aug Department of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Aeronautical Research Laboratories. ARL-SYS-REPORT Pape, A. & Crassini, B. Colour Perception Standards in Aviation: Some Implications of the AAT Decisions Regarding Colour Perception and Aviation JASAM Vol 6 No. 1, December Randy Gibb, Rob Gray, Lauren Scharff. Aviation Visual Perception. Published by Ashgate, Flight Safety Foundation Publication Vol 62 No. 2 Feb ICAO Manual of Civil Aviation Medicine Doc 8984 AN/895