UAS Crew Member Selection Consultant

UAS Crew Member Selection

The Insitu ScanEagle was originally developed by Insitu Inc. to track dolphins and tuna to ensure dolphin safe catches for fishermen. The ScanEagle UAS is a small, salt water tolerable, low infrastructure launch and recovery aircraft, capable of 20 hour long automated flight. The ScanEagle is launched via a catapult, and recovered utilizing a skyhook and catch line (Defense Industry Daily, 2014).

The General Atomics Ikhana UAS is a modified MQ-9 Predator B aircraft, initially developed by NASA at the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California. Ikhana has a 66 foot wingspan, and is 36 feet long. Due it size, up to 400 pounds of sensors can be utilized internally, and approximately 2,000 pounds in external wing pods (General Atomics, 2007). The UAS was designed for high altitude, long endurance missions Beyond-Line-of Sight (BLOS), operating at altitudes up to 40,000 feet for up to 30 hours duration (General Atomics, 2007).

While the Insitu ScanEagle is a smaller catapult launched aircraft operating at lower altitudes, and the General Atomics Ikhana is a high altitude BLOS UAS, they will both utilize crews comprised of two personnel, a pilot and a scanner/sensor/payload operator. As the Ikhana will be a long duration aircraft, crews will need to rotate in accordance with established crew duty day restrictions per the FAA.

The Scan eagle operates at lower altitudes, and will be performing scanning duties in a visual area. Operating over the ocean at an altitude of under 400 feet and within a one mile distance, per the FAA, the ScanEagle operators are not required to hold a pilot’s license (Barnhart, Shappee & Marshall, 2011). The Ikhana on the other hand, conducts BLOS operations at high altitude where they pose a risk to other aircraft, and requires that pilots do hold a commercial pilots license.

In February of 2007, the Office of Aerospace Medicine division of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a report titled: Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Medical Certification Requirements (Williams, 2007).This report utilized a literature review of previous work accomplished regarding this topic, as well as the inclusion of an FAA meeting on 26 July, 2005 with a diverse field of subject matter experts in an attempt to determine what the best possible solution would be to the issue of medical certification requirements for commercial and civil UAS operations.

During the initial subject matter expert meeting, the decision was made that a third class medical would suffice for UAS operation. Following the meeting however, it was determined that a second class medical certificate would be more appropriate for commercial UAS pilots, as the vision restrictions are more stringent. In some situations, UAS pilots are required to maintain visual contact with the aircraft, necessitating a stricter vision requirement. Additionally, no other commercial pilots are required to hold less than a class two medical certificate, which was another determining factor (Williams, 2007).

Per the FAA, in accordance with a second class medical certificate, the following medical standards are deemed a requirement:

·       “Distant Vision- 20/20 or better in each eye separately, with or without correction.

·       Near Vision- 20/40 or better in each eye separately (Snellen equivalent), with or without correction, as measured at 16 in.

·       Intermediate Vision- 20/40 or better in each eye separately (Snellen equivalent), with or without correction at age 50 and over, as measured at 32 in.

·       Color Vision- Ability to perceive those colors necessary for safe performance of pilot duties.

·       Hearing- Demonstrate hearing of an average conversational voice in a quiet room, using both ears at 6 feet, with the back turned to the examiner or pass one of the audiometric tests.

·       Audiology- Audiometric speech discrimination test (Score at least 70% discrimination in

one ear):

                  500Hz 1,000Hz 2,000Hz 3,000Hz

Better Ear   35Db     30Db      30Db      40Db

Worse Ear  35Db     50Db      50Db       60Db

·       Ear Nose and throat- No ear disease or condition manifested by, or that may reasonably be expected to be manifested by, vertigo or a disturbance of speech or equilibrium.

·       Blood Pressure- No specified values stated in the standards. 155/95 Maximum allowed.

·       Electrocardiogram- Not routinely required.

·       Mental- No diagnosis of psychosis or bipolar disorder or severe personality disorders.

·       Substance Dependence and Substance Abuse- A diagnosis or medical history of substance dependence is disqualifying unless there is established clinical evidence, satisfactory to the Federal Air Surgeon, of recovery, including sustained total abstinence from the substance(s) for not less than the preceding 2 yrs” (Williams, 2007).

References

Barnhart, Richard K., Shappee, Eric, and Marshall, Douglas M.. Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems. London, GBR: CRC Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 4 March 2015.

Defense Industry Daily. (2014, November 9). From Dolphins to Destroyers: The ScanEagle UAV. Retrieved from http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/from-dolphins-to-destroyers-the-scaneagle-uav-04933/

General Atomics. (2007, March 29). Ikhana UAS Gives NASA New Science and Technology Capabilities. Retrieved from http://media.ga.com/2007/03/27/ikhana-uas-gives-nasa-new-science-and-technology-capabilities/

Williams, K. (2007, February). Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Medical Certification Requirements. Retrieved from http://fas.org/irp/program/collect/ua-pilot.pdf