Engineering Commons^™

A Comparison Of Airport Risks: Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Uas) Sightings, Wildlife Strikes, And Runway Incursions, Cheng Wang, Sarah M. Hubbard

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

To provide a context for the potential threat of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) sightings on airport operations, this paper compares the characteristics of UAS sightings with two common airport threats: wildlife strikes and runway incursions. This study analyzed over 60,000 events in a three-year period (September 2016 to August 2019), including 6,551 UAS sightings from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) UAS Sightings Report database, 47,574 wildlife strikes from the FAA Wildlife Strike database, and 6,041 runway incursions from the FAA Runway Safety database. The results suggest both similarities and differences among the airport threats. Both UAS sightings and wildlife strikes …

Characteristics Of Unmanned Aircraft System (Uas) Sightings And Airport Safety, Cheng Wang, Sarah M. Hubbard

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This paper presents the characteristics of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) sightings and discusses these characteristics in the context of airport safety using airport operational data. An unmanned aircraft in the vicinity of a commercial airport may be a potential threat to aircraft operations, and may result in operational and economic impacts if it causes an airport delay or shutdown. To ensure a record of UAS activity, the Federal Aviation Administration collects and publishes a UAS Sightings Report. This study analyzed UAS sightings and found that they vary by time of year and time of day, with more sightings in the …

Can The Timeframe Of Reported Uas Sightings Help Regulators?, Spencer Erik Pitcher, Kelly A. Whealan-George

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Remotely controlled small aircraft, otherwise known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) or drones have started to impact the United States National Airspace System by interfering with the safe flight of aircraft. As the UAS industry continues its expected growth into the future, lawmakers, as well as regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation community must be able to predict when there will be more UAS craft in the air that could cause an interruption to air traffic so that more resources can be allocated optimally to counter the threat of UAS craft. The purpose of this study …

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Acoustic Analysis For Noninvasive Marine Mammal Response: An Exploratory Field Study, David Thirtyacre, Gennifer Brookshire, Sarah Callan, Brittany Arvizu, Patrick Sherman

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

As in countless other fields of human endeavor, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have the potential to benefit pinniped (Pinnipedia; e.g., Phocidae [seals], Otariidae [sea lions], and Odobenidae [walruses]) response efforts. The employment of sUAS could give responders a close-up look at animals in distress in order to determine their condition as well as develop a response strategy. However, unlike other subjects that are regularly inspected by sUAS (e.g., croplands and civil infrastructure) pinnipeds may respond to the distinctive sound generated by small, multirotor sUAS. This reaction may include retreating into the water en masse, which could put …

Evaluating The Merit Of Implementing A Safety Management System Into An Unmanned Aerial Systems Company, Nathan Phillips, Jennifer Herr

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Safety Management System (SMS) implementation into small Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) organizations is only now beginning to happen. Because of the lack of research into this area and its cutting edge application in unmanned aviation, a look into the potential benefits as well as the differences from manned avation seems appropriate.

Urban Flow And Small Unmanned Aerial System Operations In The Built Environment, Kevin A. Adkins

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put forth a set of regulations (Part 107) that govern small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) operations. These regulations restrict unmanned aircraft (UA) from flying over people and their operation to within visual line of sight (VLOS). However, as new applications for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are discovered, their capabilities improve, and regulations evolve, there is an increasing desire to undertake urban operations, such as urban air mobility, package delivery, infrastructure inspection, and surveillance. This built environment poses new weather hazards that include enhanced wind shear and turbulence. The smaller physical dimensions, lower mass and …

How Law Enforcement Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Uas) Could Improve Tactical Response To Active Shooter Situations: The Case Of The 2017 Las Vegas Shooting, Ryan J. Wallace, Jon M. Loffi

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Using a case study methodology, this paper assesses the unique tactical challenges faced by law enforcement officers responding to the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas active shooter incident. The authors assessed the tactical strengths of the assailant, Stephen Paddock, and challenges faced by law enforcement personnel. The authors present several proposed applications of unmanned aircraft systems that could have potentially mitigated the active shooter’s tactical advantages.

Integration Of Military Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) Into The Us National Airspace System: The Relationship Between Uas Accidents And Safety Concerns, Omar J. Hamilton, Timm J. Bliss, Chad Depperschmidt

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The purpose of this study was to discover if a relationship existed between the most common safety concerns and the most common UAS accidents with regards to the integration of military unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). This study examined the most common causes of UAS accidents over a five-year period, the level of safety concerns and common concerns from UAS military pilots and sensor operators. The quantitative data was derived from the Air Force, Navy and Army Safety Offices, while the qualitative data was derived from an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews of US Air …

Seeing The Threat: Pilot Visual Detection Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems In Visual Meteorological Conditions, Jon M. Loffi, Ryan J. Wallace, Jamey D. Jacob, Jared C. Dunlap

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

One key challenge of integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) platforms into the National Airspace System (NAS) is the potential for midair collisions between manned aircraft and the unmanned system. The lack of an established UAS benchmark for Detect, Sense & Avoid Systems put the preponderance of avoidance efforts on manned aircraft pilots to visually see and avoid potential collision threats. The small size, unusual configurations, and diverse operational applications of unmanned systems make UAS platforms difficult to visually identify. This paper sought to determine the mean visibility distance of small UAS systems (sUAS) to an alerted pilot flying a general …

A Model Of Human Harm From A Falling Unmanned Aircraft: Implications For Uas Regulation, Andrew V. Shelley

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This paper quantifies the human harm, in the form of fatalities and skull fractures, which could occur as a result of an unmanned aircraft falling from a height. The analysis is used to establish the maximum height at which an unmanned aircraft can be flown over people to achieve a level of safety consistent with the rate of ground fatalities from General Aviation. The maximum height is dependent on the aircraft mass and the population density of people on the ground below.

The results are used to inform a critical evaluation of recent recommendations from the FAA-chartered “Unmanned Aircraft Systems …