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Assessing the Risks of Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (2018) / Chapter Skim
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Summary
Pages 1-5

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From page 1...
... What these various examples illustrate is that when discussing the risk of introducing drones into the National Airspace System, it is necessary to consider the increase in risk to people in manned aircraft and on the ground, as well as the various ways in which this new technology may reduce risk and save lives, sometimes in ways that cannot readily be accounted for with current safety assessment processes. The Committee on Assessing the Risks of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
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From page 2...
... For example, FAA risk avoidance behavior is often rewarded, even when it is excessively risk averse, and rewarded behavior is repeated behavior. Balanced risk decisions can be discounted, and FAA staff may conclude that allowing new risk could endanger their careers even when that risk is so minimal that it does not exceed established safety standards.
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From page 3...
... Recommendation: Where operational data are insufficient to credibly estimate likelihood and severity components of risk, the FAA should use a comparative risk analysis approach to compare proposed UAS operations to comparable existing or de minimis levels of risk. The FAA should research and publish applicable quantitative levels of acceptable risk in comparison to other societal activities that pose de minimis risk to people.
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From page 4...
... Recommendation: The FAA should create the following two mechanisms that empower and reward safety risk management decisions that consider the broad charter of the Department of Transportation to "serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future" (DOT, 2018) : • The FAA administrator should establish an incentive system that measures, promotes, and rewards individuals who support balanced comparative risk assessments.
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From page 5...
... For this reason, true autonomy, as opposed to well-defined automatic operation in well-defined circumstances, is not currently allowed for commercial UAS flying within the National Airspace System. Opportunities to increase the safety of UAS operations, and of aviation in general, through increased autonomy are being missed, however, due to a lack of accepted risk assessment methods.
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Key Terms

  • risk analysis
  • safety risk
  • probabilistic risk
  • national airspace
  • minimis risk

  • unmanned aircraft
  • quantitative risk
  • acceptable risk
  • comparative risk
  • separate risk

  • risk assessments
  • manned aircraft
  • reduce risk
  • risk analyses
  • uas industry

  • aviation safety
  • total safety
  • safety data
  • safety benefits
  • safety standards

  • quantitative probabilistic
  • civil aviation
  • quantitative levels
  • operational data
  • minimis levels

  • international civil
  • potential risks
  • empirical data
  • save lives
  • societal activities


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