Contact Information
Terence Abbott
Distinguished Research Associate
Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch (D318)
NASA Langley Research Center
24 West Taylor St.
Mail Stop 152
Hampton, VA 23681
Email: terence.s.abbott@nasa.gov
Bio
Terence Abbott is a Distinguished Research Associate supporting NASA Langley’s Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch. He is an internationally recognized expert in the development and application of task-oriented methodologies for the design of flight crew systems interfaces. He has over 40 years of experience in the development of advanced flight deck system concepts for improved operational efficiency and flight safety. To compliment this experience, he also has expertise in all aspects of the avionics development cycle, from the definition of operational requirements through software design to flight test.
In his NASA career, he was initially involved in research for the development of control systems and flight displays for commercial helicopter IFR operations. Following that activity, he became a lead researcher in 1979 for flight experiments of Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) concepts. With the practical introduction of electronic flight displays, he became one of the original developers of user-centered design, authoring the Task-Oriented Display Design concept and the proof-of-concept demonstrator, the Engine Monitoring and Control System (E-MACS) display. His expertise in this area also led to his involvement as a design team leader developing principles for an integrated flight deck concept with significant contributions toward an SAE design standard. He has contributed in the interface design area as a member of the Advanced Orbiter Displays Working Group for the shuttle orbiter flight crew display systems upgrade. As an indication of expertise in both flight controls and human factors, he was the principal author of the FAA’s Notice of Policy Statement entitled Improved Flightcrew Awareness during Autopilot Operation. In 1998, he technically managed NASA’s portion of the NASA-Honeywell AILS/CASPER Project and associated flight test, demonstrating a cost-effective means for airborne self-separation operations at airports with closely spaced parallel runways. The majority of his research since then has focused on the development of operational concepts and supporting aircraft control laws for precision aircraft-to-aircraft spacing. This focus has included NASA’s Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) Project, the Efficient Aircraft Spacing (EAS) Project, and the ATM Technology Demonstration-1 (ATD-1) Project. He was also one of the principle authors of the operational concept for the High Volume Operation Operations (HVO) aspects of NASA’s Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) Program. He also contributed significantly to the initial development of the concept of operation for the RTCA DO-312 document for the In-Trail Procedure in Oceanic Airspace (ATSA-ITP) Application and was the author of the airborne operations portion of NASA’s Simplified Aircraft-based Paired Approach: Concept Definition and Initial Analysis document for the FAA Simplified Aircraft-based Paired Approach (SAPA) program.
Between 1966 and 1969, he served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot and maintenance test pilot. He served over 25 years in the Army Reserve, including 6 years in Special Forces. His last assignment prior to retirement from the Army was as a night-vision device instructor pilot.
Awards/Honors
2016 – Best Presentation in Session, AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference for “Development of an Interval Management Algorithm for Delayed Traffic”
2015 – NASA Group Achievement Award for the ASTAR Flight Test Team
2013 – NASA Group Achievement Award for the ATD-1 IM-NOVA Human-in-the-Loop Experiment
2012 – NASA Associate Administrator’s Technology and Innovation Group Award for Synthetic/Enhanced Vision Systems (SEVS)
2009 – NASA Group Achievement Award for the ADS-B In-Trail Procedures (ITP) Development Team
2008 – Best Paper award for Aviation Technology Integration and Operations (ATIO) Conference for “Simulation Results for Airborne Precision Spacing Along Continuous Descent Arrivals”
2007 – Robert J. Collier Trophy (Team Award) “for conceptualizing, developing, and the initial implementation of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, the next generation performance-based air-ground, ground-air, and air-air surveillance system”
2006 – Certificate of recognition for the creative development of technically significant software “Speed Control Law for Aircraft Merging in the Terminal Area”
2006 – Certificate of recognition for the creative development of technically significant software “Position, Velocity, and Acceleration Spacing Control Law”
2006 – NASA Group Achievement Award, Small Aircraft Transportation System Project (SATS) Team
2005 – NASA Group Achievement Award to Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) Project Team
2005 – NASA Turning Goals Into Reality (TGIR) Award, Small Aircraft Transportation System Project (SATS) Team
2004 – Certificate of recognition for the creative development of technically significant software “FMS/Autoflight Simulation Tools for Windows, FASTWIN”
2004 – NASA Group Achievement Award, Advanced Terminal Area Approach Spacing (ATAAS) Research Team
2003 – NASA Turning Goals Into Reality (TGIR) Award, Advanced Terminal Area Approach Spacing (ATAAS) Research Team
2001 – Superior Accomplishment Award (Group) for pioneering the development of a strategy to meet the air transportation needs of 2025 and beyond
2001 – NASA Group Achievement Award for the Airborne Information for Lateral Spacing (AILS)
2000 – Superior Accomplishment Award for significant contributions in support of the Safe Flight activity
1999 – Certificate of recognition for the development of a scientific contribution of significant value “Method and System for Monitoring and Displaying Engine Performance Parameters”
1997 – NASA Space Act Award for the development of an Advanced Flight Management System (FMS) technology
1996 – Superior Accomplishment Award for the development and application of task oriented methodologies in the design of pilot and aircraft systems
1995 – Certificate of recognition for the creative development of technically significant software “Method and System for Monitoring and Displaying Engine Performance Parameters”
1994 – Best Presentation in Session, AIAA 12th Annual Avionics Conference for “Functional Categories for Human-Centered Flight Deck Design”
1993 – Superior Accomplishment Award for the development of the Flight Management System (FMS) for the Advanced Civil Transport Simulator
1993 – NASA Langley H.J.E. Reid Award for the best paper of the year at NASA Langley
1991 – NASA Medal for Exceptional Engineering Achievement
1989 – Special Achievement Award for conceiving and developing the Engine Monitoring and Control System Display (E-MACS)
1989 – Research and Development Magazine R&D 100 Award
1987 – Special Achievement Award for the development of a Knowledge-Aided Display Design (KADD) Prototype System