M1 UAS Current Event Analysis

M1 UAS Current Event Analysis

            According to research that had been conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that 70-80% of aviation accidents have a direct casual factor from the human element (Williams, 2004).  The United States Army had conducted a study involving a total of 56 unmanned aerial vehicles, at the conclusion of this study it was determined that 32% of incidents were caused due to human error (Williams, 2004).  Human error was broken down into a variety of causal factors, the separated error causal factors were:  Pilot-in-command, alerts and alarms, display design, external pilot landing error, external pilot takeoff error and procedural errors.  Out of all the areas of human errors, the highest casual facture was external pilot landing error at 47% of the human element.  Followed by external pilot takeoff error and procedural errors sitting around 20% of the human error total (Williams, 2004). 

            Similarly as unmanned aerospace systems are becoming more abundant so have UAV involved accidents.  UAV involved incidents have been significantly higher than that of manned aircraft (Alan Hobbs, 2006).  Unmanned military surveillance aircraft losses has been more than 10 times than that of manned aircraft (Alan Hobbs, 2006).  A study conducted in 2004 on UAVs reported that maintenance factors involved anywhere from 2-17% of the reported accidents varying only by the type of UAVs involved (Williams, 2004).  (Williams, 2004) Also determined that 32% of UAV accidents involved human error, while 45% involved material failure. 

            While UAVs will undoubtedly be the preferred choice of tomorrow’s operation, there are many factors to work out.  New rules and regulations must be implemented and new safety requirements and procedures must be created.  It is much more difficult piloting an unmanned aircraft from a remote control center than it is to fly a manned aircraft.  Therefore standards and regulations for unmanned flight within U.S. Airspace must focus particularly on the human factors within UAV operations (Jason S. McCarley).

References

Alan Hobbs, P. S. (2006). Human Challenges in the Maintenance of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Moffett Field: NASA Research Park.

Jason S. McCarley, C. D. (n.d.). Human Factors Concerns in UAV Flight. Illinois: University of Illinois.

Williams, K. W. (2004). A Summary of Unmanned Aircraft Accident/Incident Data: Human Factors Implications. Washington D.C.: ADOT/FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine.