UAS Mishaps and Accidents

    This week's discussion topics talk about hazards and risks for UAS operations, tools to mitigate Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations, and how human factors have contributed to UAS mishap and accident rates.

     A few hazards and risks to UAS operations are:
  • Collisions
    • Mainly other aircraft and terrain
    • Can be $$$ if colliding with property such as cell towers, antennae, other expensive equipment.
  • Loss link
    • Can result in a collision
  • Weather
    • Can result in equipment loss/damage
  • Human Factors
    • Pilot experience
    • Aeronautical Decision Making
Beyond Visual Line of Sight or BVLOS operations present increased risk in accidents happening. Tools can be used to mitigate BVLOS risk and accidents:
  • Thorough planning of the flight
    • Extensive research of the flight area
      • Terrain, obstacles, and human activity
    • Weather
      • Make sure it's in the operation area, and not simply at home.
      • Make sure it's for the time period the flight is scheduled for.
    • Pilot health
      • Sleep well
      • No sicknesses
      • Medication is up to date
        • Make sure you aren't taking medication with adverse side effects
  • Loss link protocol
    • Preplan a loss link flight path
  • Acquire paperwork
    • Authorization to fly will ensure that authorities will know that there will be UAS operations in the area and to be careful
Human factors in UAS accidents play a  large role. A study done by Asim et al (2010) found that out of 56 US Army UAS accidents, 32% of them were caused by human factors. 


References:
Asim, M., Ehsan, N., & Rafique, K. (2010). PROBABLE CAUSAL FACTORS IN UAV ACCIDENTS BASED ON HUMAN FACTOR ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM [Review of PROBABLE CAUSAL FACTORS IN UAV ACCIDENTS BASED ON HUMAN FACTOR ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM]. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS of the AERONAUTICAL SCIENCES, 27.

‌

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Risk Management and ADM

Image
This week we learned about Risk Management and ADM, or Aeronautical Decision Making. ADM is a systematic way of making decisions in the air. To help with this, we can look at human factors that effect decision making, such as being Anti-Authority, Impulsive, feeling Invulnerable, being Macho, or Resignation. In order to make sure you avoid falling into these behaviors, you must first recognize your own behaviors and take conscious action to change them.  Something that stood out to me for Risk Management was the table/matrix you can use as a guide.  This table was Table 2 from Chapter 2 of the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. This stood out to me because in Mechanical Engineering Design, you use a similar guide to come up with failure modes and how likely and severe they will be. I suppose now that I'm typing and thinking things out, it does make sense that the two would be similar, as they are both forms of risk management.  Some unique human factors challenge...
Read more

UAM, UTM, and NextGen

This week we learned about UAM, UTM, and NextGen. I'll give a quick summary as a refresher for the reader. UAM = Urban Air Mobility. These are aerial vehicles for use in urban areas, acting as either cars, taxis, buses, or potentially even ambulances and police vehicles. There are many companies developing products to fill and expand this niche that is currently occupied by rotary wing aircraft, aka helicopters. UTM = Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management = UAS Traffic Management. This is a collaboration amongst the FAA, NASA, and other federal and private actors to research how to manage operations, communicate, and track UAS operations in airspace where Air Traffic Service is not provided by the FAA. NextGen = Next Generation Air Transportation System. The FAA is upgrading the NAS, or National Airspace System, to handle the increased demand, as well as new capabilities involving UAS and other non-traditional aviation uses.  What do you think are the greatest challenges for ...
Read more