Heart rate is a parameter describing activity of human heart and its psycho-physiological character based on sympathovagal balance of autonomic nervous system, which could be instrumental for indicating stress in aircraft pilots. The assessment focuses on transition from the airplane's analog presentation of flight data to digital visualization (glass cockpit). The main objective was to examine heart rate of pilots according to the change of flight data imaging during proposed training program, using flight simulator (TRD40 type) and aircraft (DA40 type). Another aim is to interpret stress during different flight tasks and define its influence on pilots' performance. A group of ten healthy pilots with the same level of experience participated in a seven week training program. A custom designed system consisting of non-complex units was used for measuring procedures during every recorded flight. Heart rate was recorded using a commercial chest belt made by Garmin ^® . Spectral analysis of the measured signal has provided the status of sympathovagal balance based on Lomb normalized periodogram. Variation of mental stress according to the values of low to high frequency ratio LF/HF was proven according to the course of training. Results show that the transit from analog to digital visual presentation of avionic data induces stress among pilots and heart rate could be an appropriate parameter defining the actual stress condition.

During their professional career, pilots often experience a change in workplace conditions in the form of an aircraft cockpit ergonomics change. Change of working conditions may impact their perception of flight data or the pilot’s psychophysiological condition, especially in cases of inexperienced pilots. The presented study deals with the influence of cockpit ergonomics change on the performance and pilot workload during a training course. We divided 20 subjects with no previous practical flying experience into two training groups (Gr. A and Gr. B). The flight training was focused on acquisition of basic piloting skills where both groups experienced cockpit ergonomics change in different training phases. The performance (piloting precision) was assessed based on deviations from predetermined parameters of the monitored flight manoeuvres. Heart rate variability qualified the extent of workload. The study showed the influence of the cockpit arrangement on piloting precision, where the transition to other type of cockpit ergonomics did not influence pilots’ subjective workload with statistical significance.

With the expanding electrification in all sectors of transport, it is necessary to look for new efficient solutions for propulsion systems for use in air transport. One of the approaches can be the use of electric ducted fans (EDFs), especially in, but not limited to, the case of unmanned aerial vehicles with vertical takeoff and landing. This concept has been known for several decades but has been used very little and therefore has been almost unexplored. This opens up opportunities for investigating the performance characteristics, electrical consumption or efficient thrust vectoring of EDFs with respect to their design and operational use. The presented study therefore deals with the influence of the EDF design change on its performance characteristics. These design changes mainly concerned the geometry of the cowling, i.e., reduction and increase of outlet cross section, and arrangement of fans, i.e., one- and two-rotor specification. The comparison was based on measuring of vertical thrust and power consumption during static testing. The results showed that the increasing outlet is the most suitable construction for the generation of vertical thrust during static testing, considering the specifically used EDF construction arrangement. Based on the findings, it can also be concluded that EDFs are a suitable option for use in unmanned aircraft as a competition to other propulsion systems.

Techniques to quantify postural stability usually rely on the evaluation of only two variables, that is, two coordinates of COP. However, by using three variables, that is, three components of acceleration vector, it is possible to describe human movement more precisely. For this purpose, a single three-axis accelerometer was used, making it possible to evaluate 3D movement by use of a novel method, convex polyhedron (CP), together with a traditional method, based on area of the confidence ellipse (ACE). Ten patients (Pts) with cerebellar ataxia and eleven healthy individuals of control group (CG) participated in the study. The results show a significant increase of volume of the CP (CPV) in Pts or CG standing on foam surface with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) after the EC phase. Significant difference between Pts and CG was found in all cases as well. Correlation coefficient indicates strong correlation between the CPV and ACE in most cases of patient examinations, thus confirming the possibility of quantification of postural instability by the introduced method of CPV.