UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: KSAO Requirements Abstract

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine 
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute 

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-23/12

Title and Subtitle: UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: KSAO 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 air taxi services, package delivery, crop dusting, and more. The Code of Federal Regulations for aircraft operations (14 CFR) is restrictive to air carrier applications for UAS. In particular, small UAS (sUAS) regulations (14 CFR § 107) do not explicitly address air carrier operations (14 CFR § 121 and § 135). Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAO) requirements have been researched extensively in traditionally piloted aircraft 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 subject matter experts (SMEs) will help inform current and planned future UAS operations, and support regulators in setting 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). Findings will inform future regulations concerning UAS operator KSAOs in air carrier operations. Standardizing UAS operator KSAO 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, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other, KSAO requirements, air carrier operations, training, testing, knowledge 

No. of Pages: 122

UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: Fatigue Abstract

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine 
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute 

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-23/11

Title and Subtitle: UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: Fatigue

Report Date: March 2023

Authors: Durham, J., Hu, P., Baumgartner, H., Nesthus, T.

Abstract: There is an increasing demand to utilize unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for new applications currently outside the scope of written regulation, such as taxi services, package delivery, and crop dusting. The Code of Federal Regulations on Aeronautics and Space (14 CFR) are restrictive to air carrier applications for UAS. In particular, small UAS (sUAS) regulations (14 CFR § 107 [Federal Regulation for Commercial sUAS]) do not explicitly address air carrier operations (codified under 14 CFR § 121 [Federal Regulation for Air Carriers and § 135[Federal Regulation for Commuter Air Operations]). Duty time, shift work, and fatigue requirements have been extensively researched in manned operations, but recent and continuing developments in UAS applications and UAS automation have resulted in changes to work elements, and ultimately to operator fatigue. This Market Survey regarding UAS operator fatigue will help inform future policy and regulations associated with UAS operations so that novel applications of UAS can be integrated safely into the National Airspace System (NAS).Survey results found a majority of organizations have 10 or fewer drone operator pilots with an average of 7 years of experience. The majority of respondents indicated that the anticipated average in-flight time for air carrier delivery operations is 30 min or less and that for air taxi services the anticipated average in-flight time is higher, at 1 hour or less. A majority of respondents disagreed that fatigue represents a safety concern, but expressed some variation on how much time on duty is risky for operator fatigue. Respondents indicated that they work relatively regular weeks with 1-3 days off between shifts and routine breaks during shifts. A large proportion of respondent organizations provide fatigue awareness and fatigue management training, and also appear to provide mechanisms for reporting crewmember fatigue when it represents a safety concern. However, a majority of organizations do not maintain records about the prevalence of fatigue even though a majority of respondents reported experiencing fatigue themselves while on duty and that workload and work schedules might be factors contributing to fatigue while on duty. Recommendations for standardizing UAS duty time, shift work, fatigue awareness and educational requirements are suggested for supporting the safe and efficient integration of UAS into the NAS.

Key Words: unmanned aircraft systems, duty time, shift work, operator fatigue, air carrier operations, human factors, pilot flight duty

No. of Pages: 93
 

UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: Training Requirements

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine 
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute 

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-23/09

Title and Subtitle: UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: Training 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 regulations, such as air taxi services, package delivery, and crop dusting. The Code of Federal Regulations on Aeronautics and Space (14 CFR) is restrictive to air carrier applications for UAS. In particular, small UAS (sUAS) regulations (14 CFR § 107 [Federal Regulation for Commercial sUAS]) do not explicitly address air carrier operations. Regulations relevant to air carrier operations (14 CFR § 121 [Federal Regulation for Air Carriers] and § 135 [Federal Regulation for Commuter Air Operations]) were not written to include the use of UAS. Training requirements have been extensively researched in traditionally piloted aircraft operations (see Torrence et al., 2020), but recent and continuing developments in UAS applications and UAS automation have resulted in changing roles and responsibilities for crewmembers. Training literature was gathered in an annotated bibliography, and experts in both industry and academia were surveyed about current and future policies from their companies to gauge the future direction of UAS operations. This survey will help inform current and planned future UAS operations related to training. It will also allow for regulations of last-mile and high-altitude-long-endurance operations so that these novel applications of UAS can be safely integrated into the National Airspace System (NAS). Findings may inform future regulations concerning UAS training for crewmembers related to air carrier operations and potentially help standardize these requirements. Altogether, this will support the safe and efficient integration of UAS into the NAS.

Key Words: unmanned aircraft systems, UAS Training, UAS Training requirements, air carrier operations, testing, knowledge 

No. of Pages: 106

UAS Air Carrier Operations Survey: Crew and Staffing Requirements

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

Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine 
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute 

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-23/08

Title and Subtitle: Human Factors in Helicopter Air Ambulance Operations Annotated Bibliography (2014 – 2022)

Report Date: February 2023

Authors: Hannah M. Baumgartner, Rebecca DiDomenica, Justin Durham, Peter T. Hu

Abstract: Helicopter air ambulance (HAA) operations involve particularly challenging conditions, including landing at unfamiliar, remote, or unimproved sites with terrain and obstacle hazards, and involve urgent or time-sensitive situations. Associated human factors (HF) issues including fatigue, stress, human error, and perceived pressure to fly compound the challenging nature of HAA operations. This report aims to inform the current understanding of HF risks and considerations within HAA operations spanning 2014 – 2022 through a focused review of flightcrew fatigue considerations, environmental conditions, areas for increased training opportunities, and other operational risk factors

Keywords: Helicopter air ambulance; human factors; fatigue; training 

No. of Pages: 60
 

Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No:DOT/FAA/AM-23/02

Title and Subtitle: RNA-Seq Alignment and Differential Expression Software Comparison

Report Date: January, 2023

Authors: Munster SK, Nicholson SJ, Uyhelji HA

Abstract: The twofold goals for this study were to determine an optimum choice for ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-Seq) alignment software and to determine which differential expression software packages produced consistent and accurate results. RNA was extracted from blood and pooled to produce homogenous sample material to ensure that any differential expression between samples was attributable to characteristics of downstream processing or software choice. Also, simulated sequence data were produced with a known rate of differential expression. After RNA-Seq, all datasets had alignments (or pseudoalignments) performed by Bowtie2, HISAT2, kallisto, RSEM, Rsubread, Salmon, and STAR. Feature counts were tabulated and analyzed for differential expression using ALDEx2, baySeq, DEGseq, DESeq2, edgeR, limma, NOISeq, PoissonSeq, and SAMseq (samr), and results were compared. Findings indicated that kallisto, Salmon, and STAR provided superior mapping performance, were quickest, and had the smallest output file size compared to the others tested. The differential expression software DESeq2, edgeR, and limma had the most accurate true positive rate with simulated data and consistently performed as expected with real datasets.

Key Words: RNA-Seq, alignment, differential expression

No. of Pages:41

Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No:DOT/FAA/AM-23/01

Title and Subtitle: An Evaluation of the Downstream Effects of Purification Methods on RNA-Seq Differential Expression

Report Date: January 2023

Authors: Munster SK, Uyhelji HA, Nicholson SJ

Abstract: Ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a valuable and commonly used technique to quantify the number of individual RNA transcripts within a sample. RNA-Seq typically requires a small amount of pure and concentrated RNA, which can necessitate additional concentration or purification of previously isolated RNA samples. Magnetic beads and silica-based columns are often used to concentrate and/or purify RNA samples, but little is known about how these techniques influence downstream analyses. In this study, we collected blood from volunteer human subjects and pooled those samples during RNA extraction to minimize variance due to input material. We then purified aliquots of that sample pool to evaluate how sample purification and concentration influenced gene expression observations. Extracted RNA was sequenced, and the resulting RNA-Seq files were evaluated to determine the degree of differential expression between methods. Differential expression was detected in roughly half of the comparisons made and appeared attributable at least partly to differences in sample concentration and purification techniques.

Key Words: RNA-Seq, sample purification, differential expression

No. of Pages: 27

RNA-Seq Alignment and Differential Expression Software Comparison

An Evaluation of the Downstream Effects of Purification Methods on RNA-Seq Differential Expression

Cerebral Blood Flow Based Computer Modeling of Gz-Induced Effects