FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine 
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute 

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-23/10

Title and Subtitle: UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: Crew and Staffing Requirements

Report Date: March 2023

Authors: Williams, K., Mofle, T., Hu, P.

Abstract: There is an increasing demand to utilize unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for an array of new applications currently outside the scope of written regulation, including taxi services, package delivery, crop dusting, and more. Current regulations (i.e., 14 C.F.R. § 107) are restrictive to air carrier applications for UAS. In particular, small UAS (sUAS) regulations (14 C.F.R. § 107) do not explicitly address air carrier operations (codified under 14 C.F.R. § 121 and § 135). Crew and staffing requirements have not been researched extensively in unmanned operations, but recent and continuing developments in UAS applications and UAS automation have resulted in changing roles and responsibilities for crewmembers. The efforts of this survey will help inform future regulations from last-mile to high-altitude-long-endurance operations so that these novel applications of UAS can be integrated safely into the National Airspace System (NAS). An annotated bibliography was performed to synthesize crew and staffing literature and a survey of experts in industry and academia was conducted to gather insights about current and future policies from their companies. Findings will inform future regulations concerning UAS operators in air carrier operations. Standardizing UAS operator crew and staffing requirements will support the safe and efficient integration of UAS into the NAS, and this remains an important initiative for the FAA and industry stakeholders.

Key Words: unmanned aircraft systems, crew requirements, air carrier operations, duty and rest requirements, training, testing, knowledge

No. of Pages: 95