Considerations of Unmanned Aircraft Classification for Civil Airworthiness StandardsThe use of unmanned aircraft in the National Airspace System (NAS) has been characterized as the next great step forward in the evolution of civil aviation. Although use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in military and public service operations is proliferating, civil use of UAS remains limited in the United States today. This report focuses on one particular regulatory challenge: classifying UAS to assign airworthiness standards. Classification is useful for ensuring that meaningful differences in design are accommodated by certification to different standards, and that aircraft with similar risk profiles are held to similar standards. This paper provides observations related to how the current regulations for classifying manned aircraft, based on dimensions of aircraft class and operational aircraft categories, could apply to UAS. This report finds that existing aircraft classes are well aligned with the types of UAS that currently exist; however, the operational categories are more difficult to align to proposed UAS use in the NAS. Specifically, the factors used to group manned aircraft into similar risk profiles do not necessarily capture all relevant UAS risks. UAS classification is investigated through gathering approaches to classification from a broad spectrum of organizations, and then identifying and evaluating the classification factors from these approaches. This initial investigation concludes that factors in addition to those currently used today to group manned aircraft for the purpose of assigning airworthiness standards will be needed to adequately capture risks associated with UAS and their operations.
Document ID
20140002407
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Maddalon, Jeffrey M. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Hayhurst, Kelly J. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Morris, A. Terry (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Verstynen, Harry A. (Whirlwind Engineering, LLC Poquoson, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
March 28, 2014
Publication Date
August 19, 2013
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
NF1676L-16015NF1676L-16015
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference
Location: Boston, MA
Country: United States
Start Date: August 19, 2013
End Date: August 22, 2013
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics