An exploratory study is being conducted to examine the feasibility of collecting voluntary critical incident reports from RPAS pilots. Twenty-three experienced RPAS pilots volunteered to participate in focus groups in which they described critical incidents from their own experience. Participants were asked to recall (1) incidents that revealed a system flaw, or (2) highlighted a case where the human operator contributed to system resilience or mission success. Participants were asked to only report incidents that could be included in a public document. A total of 90 incidents were reported. Human factor issues included the impact of reduced sensory cues, traffic separation in the absence of an out-the-window view, control latencies, vigilance during monotonous and ultra-long endurance flights, control station design considerations, transfer of control between control stations, the management of lost link procedures, and decision-making during emergencies.
Human Factors of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems: Lessons from Incident Reports
2016
31 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Transportation Safety , Air Transportation , Aircraft accident investigation , Drone aircraft , Human factors engineering , Information retrieval , Operator performance , Remotely piloted vehicles , Unmanned aircraft systems , Lessons learned , Collision avoidance , Decision making , Defects , Documentation , Failure analysis , Situational awareness , System failures , Aircraft pilots