A Grounded Theory of UAS Reported Accidents

Context: The manufacture and operation of sUAS are not as regulated as today’s commercial operation, and their widespread use introduces new risks and hazards to the general public.

Aim: Our intent is to understand the various processes that prevent or portend sUAS incidents or accidents and the influence that pilots’ expectations and training have on these processes.

Method: We use classic grounded theory on sUAS reported accidents (and incidents).

Results: We identified three categories, Control Interference, Reviewing and Reporting, which describe various processes surrounding UAS accidents based on the dataset analyzed.

Conclusion: The use of grounded theory can offer a different perspective in the analysis of UAS accidents. In addition, the traceability between data sources and the method results facilitate result validation, and navigation. While the results are preliminary, the concepts can be expanded through the use of other accident datasets or used as basis for UAS accident surveys.