Crewmember Selection for ScanEagle
Shannon D. Gibson
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
ASCI 638 Activity 8.4
March 6, 2015
ASSIGNMENT
You have been
hired by a company that has purchased both the Insitu ScanEagle and a variant
of the General Atomics Ikhana UAS to conduct oceanic environmental studies. Now
the company needs to select and hire legally qualified personnel to fly and
operate these aircraft in the U.S. National Airspace System and in the case of
the Ikhana, conduct Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) missions over the open ocean.
As a human factors expert it is your task to identify the required crew
positions that need to be filled in order to safely operate these aircraft.
Also, you will need to determine the qualification, certification, and training
requirements according to the FAA that the selected personnel will need to
conduct operations. Finally, provide a minimum and ideal set of criteria that
can be used to identify the most highly qualified applicants for these
positions to ensure compliance with all applicable rules and regulations.
ScanEagle UAS, made and produced in collaboration with Boeing and
Insitu, is a long endurance system capable of flying for more than 24
hours. This aircraft can be configured
with payload modifications to do missions such as; Search and Rescue Disaster
Response, Force Protection, Combined Arms, Target Following, Battle Damage
Assessment Pattern of Life, Border Security Asset Protection Wildlife Monitoring,
Agricultural Assessment Communications Relay Networked Operations Anti-Piracy
and Fire Fighting. Depending on your mission of choice, the team involved to
operate this UAS can be restructured in many ways. The basic team needed would
be three operators, two maintainers, one mission commander and one sensor
operator. Education needed would be inclusive of; system operations,
aerodynamics, crew resource management, maintenance and tactics (Boeing, n.d.).
For
your Mission Commander (MC), training in tactics, scheduling, overall functions
and limitations of the UAS itself are imperative. Also required is a current
certification from Initu, Inc or Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The MC
should have the ability to give daily mission briefs to crew on past mission
lessons learned and brief the upcoming mission and well as work with the Pilot
in Charge (PIC) for pre and post flight briefs. The MC is also responsible for
ensuring all paperwork required; if flown for civil aviation a current Special
Airworthiness Certificate is needed, it may be a restricted category. If
governmental, then the MC is responsible for the a Certificate of Waiver or
Authorization (COA).
For your Maintainers, system components launch and recover systems and
computer skills are needed. Responsibility for the launch and recovery systems
and all functions outside the responsibility of the Ground Control Station fall
under the Maintainer. Maintenance of the systems and all logs shall be done in
a timely manner and knowledge of current system updates are required.
For your sensor operators, training and knowledge of all payloads
associated with the mission are needed as well as troubleshooting knowledge. Each individual payload will have training and
certifications if available given to the sensor operators.
For your operators or otherwise known as PIC’s, basic flight and
airspace knowledge, as well as full system training is needed to ensure
operational success is required. The PIC also must keep a current certification
from Insitu Inc or NAVAIR. The PIC must also prepare the pre and post flight
briefs and have the ability and communications knowledge for all communications
concerning the UAS. The PIC is also responsible for weather conditions and is
the final authority for the safety of flight. Flight planning is entirely the
responsibility of the PIC, training in these areas are mandated. Your PIC shall
have a pilot certificate to operate a UAS in the NAS. If not, they can file for
a exemption under Section 333.
Checklists will be provided to each member of the team to be given prior
to and after every mission so as not to forget a step associated with each job
for the team.
References
Boeing. Boeing
Prepares First Military ScanEagle Crews. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from
USCGC Bertholf
Notice 3710. ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft System Standard Operating
Procedure.
May 10, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.unols.org/sites/default/files/ScanEagle_SOP_phase20II_ver1.pdf
FAA. Unmanned
Aircraft Systems (UAS) Fequently Asked Questions. Retrieved March 6, 2015,
from
https://www.faa.gov/uas/faq/
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