While operating UAS, sUAS, or model aircraft, have you ever encountered an unsafe or hazardous situation caused by human factors? You may relate to all aspects such as fatigue and lack of communication, as described in the article Human Factors That Can Affect Your Drone Flight/CoverDRONE

While operating UAS, sUAS, or model aircraft, have you ever encountered an unsafe or hazardous situation caused by human factors? You may relate to all aspects such as fatigue and lack of communication, as described in the article Human Factors That Can Affect Your Drone Flight/CoverDRONE

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For this week’s discussion, share your experience. If you do not have a personal experience, you should complete the following discussion activity by providing a thorough response to the following:

UAS flight presents human factor challenges different from and beyond those of manned flight. Besides the obvious fact of the pilot not physically in the UAV, so they can’t feel the movement of the UAV, what do you think are the main dissimilarities? Please explain the dissimilarities in your own words.

Reply to the following students.

STUDENT: LUKE G
Hey Classmates!

UAS flight presents human factor challenges different from and beyond those of manned flight. Besides the obvious fact of the pilot not physically in the UAV, so they can’t feel the movement of the UAV, what do you think are the main dissimilarities? Please explain the dissimilarities in your own words.

Where I Amy have little experience operating a UAS/UAV, the factors related to optimal operation are similar, if not the same as operating a simulation of an aircraft. There are some very well-put-together simulators for pilot training. Regardless, as mentioned in the discussion criteria, factors such as sleep, stress, nutrition, and physiological integrity play major roles in operating UAS.

Adequate sleep I believe is primary in operating UAS safely and successfully. Referencing the military and the perceived notion of serious aviator conditioning, “the military services use varied approaches to mitigate aviator fatigue, including (1) administrative and behavioral (i.e., non-pharmacological) measures, and (2) the voluntary use of pharmacological measures. Regulations for each service consistently emphasize non-pharmacological measures as the primary means of mitigating fatigue” (Congressional Research Service, 2023). This also applies to UAS, where the pilot may be remote from the UAS, in an office-type room, climatized for comfort, potentially creating an atmosphere inducing drowsiness. A study was conducted by the Congressional Research Service (2023) through the Center for Disease and Control (CDC) that 32.5% of adults were not meeting a criteria set by the CDC known as Healthy People 2030. Comparatively, DoD Active Duty members were over twice that percentage at 77.7% in a 2018 study. “In a March 2021 report to Congress, DoD stated sleep deprivation has ‘significant effects on the physical, cognitive, and emotional functioning needed for readiness, occupational, and operational mission fulfillment’” (Congressional Research Service, 2022).

With that said, the negative effects of sleep deprivation can cause cognitive decay resulting in the inability to effectively determine what altitude the UAS is at, or even the orientation to the ground or object it is interacting with. Furthermore, eyesight becomes blurred from this condition, therefore rendering the line-of-sight degraded. Finally, eye-hand coordination becomes lethargic, which could be detrimental to performing a critical maneuver within the operation.

References:

Congressional Research Service. (2022). Management of Sleep and Fatigue in Military Aviation. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/IF11881.pdf

STUDENT: JUSTIN MCC
I have a DJI Phantom 4 Pro and the DJI Go 4 app has had some updates in the last few years that I see helping the PIC (Pilot In Command) address the human factors of flying a UAS. As the software is starting up it will ask you a series of questions related to your location and the airspace you may be flying in. If you are aware and willing to accept all responsibilities of flying at your location.

The B4UFly app will use your location on your iPad or phone and immediately show your location to restricted airspace or limited airspace around you. There is also a checklist tab that asks you a series of questions. The first being FAA registration, second being Drone labeling in accordance with FAA standards. The third will be the passage of TRUST (The Recreational UAS Safety Test). The most important part of the app comes next, the human factor in flight. The first check asks about Pilot Health, second Pilot State of Mind, and the last would be the Pilot Condition. After these have been honestly answered I could say the human factor could be minimized but never reduced to absolute zero. People still fib the truth and may fly when they are not feeling their best, or they will put mission over safety like many of us had in the military. Just like what had been addressed in the Coverdrone article (Brown, 2019), fatigue is our worst enemy and erodes at our ability to concentrate, make decisions, and a loss of situational awareness. These will dramatically affect the flight of your UAS and could even end up with a complete loss of a system due to poor decision making.

Reference

Brown, J (2019, May 22). Human factors that can affect your drone flight. Coverdrone. https://www.coverdrone.com/human-factors-that-can-affect-your-flight/

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