Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

Remotely piloted aircraft range from quadcopter “drones” with endurance measured in minutes, to large, long endurance aircraft powered by jet turbine engines. The central message of this chapter is that the further development of unmanned aviation may be held back more by a lack of attention to human factors, than by technological hurdles. This chapter begins with a brief overview of remotely piloted aircraft, follows with a review of their accident record, and then focuses on human factors principles for Remote Pilot Stations (RPS).