Unmanned Aircraft System Crew
Selection
Human error will forever be named in
the top contributing factor responsible for a large amount of UAS accidents. Because this is a true fact crew selection is
a critical part of guaranteeing safety of flight. The purpose of this paper is to select the
appropriate crew members who possess the right qualification, certification,
and training requirements to operate the ScanEagle and Ikhana UAS.
Ikhana – General Atomics Predator B
The Ikhana is a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper variant
whose name comes from the Native American Choctaw Indian dialect for Intelligence. The
NASA flown UAS is much larger than the Insitu ScanEagle aircraft. Ikhana possess a length of 36 ft., and a
wingspan of 66 ft. The aircraft weighs
in at almost 2.5 tons with a maximum take-off ability of 10,500 pounds. This
make this Reaper comparable to an F-15 manned aircraft in overall size. The sheer size of this UAS is explanation
enough to understand its complexity doesn’t allow for quick or easy dissemble
or assembly like the ScanEagle. The Ikhana
can’t be catapulted from the Mark 6 launcher nor snagged by the Skyhook like
the Scan Eagle. This aircraft requires
takeoff and landing like the standard manned aircraft. It needs a ground crew to maneuver each
flight phase utilizing line of sight (LOS) communications during
operations. Due to the aircraft’s
intricate design and capability, a ground crew should require no less than two
flight operators (for ground control stations (GCS) failures), and two crew
members for execution of maintenance for conducting pre-flight checklists and
on the spot diagnosis/repairs when needed.
After take-off the Ikhana offers
many control options. Normal control
option used by the crew of the Ikhana is to yield to the Ground Control Station
which can be located far away from the UAS’s operation. The GCS should use at minimum two crew
members. The pilot would control the
flight of the aircraft via SATCOM to achieve beyond line of sight, BLOS
operations. The second crew member would
operate the Ikhana payload and sensor operations. Landing the massive aircraft would return to
ground control’s base operation.
Insitu ScanEagle
The Insitu ScanEagle is an agile work horse
with wings spanning 10.2 ft., a length of 5.6 ft. and weighs 48.5 lbs. (Insitu,
n.d). ScanEagle offers easy assembly and
disassembly. This can be accomplished by
a single crew member and installed on the launcher for takeoff (Stilipec,
2013). The ScanEagle is fortune to have the Skyhook
as the apparatus used in landing or snaring.
Because of the no muss no fuss approach the system only requires a one
man ground team (Stilipec, 2013).
The
one man approach is also sufficient during aircraft operations and payload
control (Stilipec, 2013). In similarity
the ScanEagle can fly a lot like the Global Hawk system. The flight is controlled primarily by way of
mouse and keyboard through waypoint inputs (Stilipec, 2013). A joystick controls the payload carrying dual
electro-optical and medium wave infrared camera (Insitu, n.d.). A second crew member man’s communications between
the system and various air traffic control agencies. This crew member also monitors the datalink
which is normally a secure internet network used during tactical command and
control for various agencies (Stilipec, 2013).
Crew
Selections
The
criteria for crew selection comes largely from the capabilities of the UAS and
the operation/mission. Highly qualified
UAS pilot candidates should possess qualifications as outlined on a General
Atomics Aeronautical Systems job posting as stated on LinkedIn (2015):
·
FAA Ratings such
as FAA Private Pilot Certificate, FAA Instrument Rating, FAA Commercial
Certificate, FAA Certified Flight Instructor, (CFI), FAA Certified Flight
Instructor Instrument (CFII).
·
800 hours PIC with
500 Unmanned Aircraft hours in an OSGCS.
·
Graduate of DA or
DES IO Course.
- Familiarity with Army forms, records and publications
as well as Contractor Flight and Ground Operations procedures and records
(DCMA 8210).
“UAV flights may not require the
operator to meet the same medical standards necessary for the pilot of a manned
aircraft performing the same flight activity as the UAV” (Connor, Cooke, Pedersen, Pringle, & Salas, 2006). It was decided that
said medical requirements are also need to be fulfilled by all crew members and
pilots in this case as well. To
establish these criteria the aid of guidelines and requirements provided by the
Federal Aviation Administration and Connor, Cooke, Pedersen, Pringle and Salas
(2006) were used. These criteria to be
incorporated are captured in the table 1 below.
Table 1. Pilot Medical Certification Standards
References
Connor, O., Cooke, N.J., Pedersen, H.K.,
Pringle, H.L., & Salas, E. (2006). Human factors of remotely operated vehicles. Oxford, UK: JAI Press, pp. 76-77.
Federal
Aviation Administration. (2007, February). Unmanned aircraft pilot medical
Certification requirements. Retrieved from
http://fas.org/irp/program/collect/ua-pilot.pdf
McKinley, R. A., McIntire, L.K., &
Funke, M.A. (2009, November). Operator selection for unmanned aerial vehicle operators: A comparison of video
game players and manned aircraft pilots.
Air Force Research Laboratory. Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA. Retrieved
from: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a518309.pdf
Stilipec, J. (2013, October 16). Airboyd. Boeing Insitu ScanEagle operations. [Video
File]. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wSQSDi__-Q
United States Air Force. (2010, August 18). MQ-9 Reaper. USAF.
Retrieved from http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104470/mq-9-reaper.aspx
UAV Pilot - OSGCS Qualified/Non-Deployable. (2015, January 1).
Retrieved March 13, 2015, from https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/11313256
Williams,
K. (2007, February 1). Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Medical Certification Requirements.
Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://fas.org/irp/program/collect/ua-pilot.pdf
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