NTSB Safety Recommendations A-07-70 through -86

[NTSB Press Releases <NTSBPressReleases@xxxxxxxx>]

Title: NTSB Safety Recommendations A-07-70 through -86

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                   NTSB SAFETY RECOMMENDATION
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National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

October 24, 2007

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Safety Recommendations A-07-70 through -86

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The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection:

Require General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., to
modify the unmanned aircraft system to ensure that
inadvertent engine shutdowns do not occur. (A-07-70)

Require General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., to
modify the unmanned aircraft system to provide adequate
visual and aural indications of safety-critical faults, such
as engine-out conditions and console lockups, and present
them in order of priority, based on the urgency for pilot
awareness and response. (A-07-71)

Review the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's methods of
developing lost-link mission profiles to ensure that lost-
link mission profile routes minimize the potential safety
impact to persons on the ground, optimize the ability to
recover the data link, and, in the absence of data-link
recovery, provide the capability to proceed to a safe zone
for a crash landing. (A-07-72)

Following completion of the action requested in Safety
Recommendation A-07-72, require that pilots be trained
concerning the expected performance and flightpath of the
unmanned aircraft during a lost-link mission. (A-07-73)

Require that the unmanned aircraft system be modified to
ensure that the transponder continues to provide beacon code
and altitude information to air traffic control even if an
engine shuts down in flight and that the pilot is provided a
clear indication if transponder function is lost for any
reason. (A-07-74)

Review all unmanned aircraft system (UAS) functions and
require necessary design changes to the UASs that the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection operates to ensure that
electrical power is available for an appropriate amount of
time to all systems essential to unmanned aircraft control
following loss of engine power. (A-07-75)

Develop a means of restarting the unmanned aircraft (UA)
engine during the lost-link emergency mission profile that
does not rely on line-of-sight control, for example, through
an autonomous capability in the unmanned aircraft system's
control system or through use of control functions enabled
via a backup satellite communication system available to the
pilot on the ground. (A-07-76)

Participate in periodic operational reviews between the
unmanned aircraft system operations team and local air
traffic control facilities, with specific emphasis on face-
to-face coordination between the working-level controller
and unmanned aircraft (UA) pilot(s), to clearly define
responsibilities and actions required for standard and
nonstandard UA operations. These operational reviews should
include, but not be limited to, discussion on lost-link
profiles and procedures, the potential for unique emergency
situations and methods to mitigate them, platform-specific
aircraft characteristics, and airspace management
procedures. (A-07-77)

Require that all conversations, including telephone
conversations, between unmanned aircraft (UA) pilots and air
traffic control, other UA pilots, and other assets that
provide operational support to UA operations, be recorded
and retained to support accident investigations. (A-07-78)

Identify and correct the causes of the console lockups. (A-
07-79)

Implement a documented maintenance and inspection program
that identifies, tracks, and resolves the root cause of
systemic deficiencies and that includes steps for in-depth
troubleshooting, repair, and verification of functionality
before returning aircraft to service. (A-07-80)

Require that aviation engineering and maintenance experts
oversee the definition of maintenance tasks, establishment
of inspection criteria, and the implementation of such
programs. Also, ensure oversight of contractor(s)
implementing such programs. (A-07-81)

Develop minimum equipment lists and dispatch deviation
guides for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's unmanned
aircraft system operations. (A-07-82)

Assess the spare-parts requirements for U.S. Customs and
Border Protection's unmanned aircraft operations to ensure
the availability of parts critical to unmanned aircraft
launch, as defined by the minimum equipment list
requirements. (A-07-83)

Revise U.S. Customs and Border Protection's pilot training
program to ensure pilot proficiency in executing emergency
procedures. (A-07-84)

Require that a backup pilot or another person who can
provide an equivalent level of safety as a backup pilot be
readily available during the operation of an unmanned
aircraft system. (A-07-85)

Develop a safety plan, which ensures that hazards to the
National Airspace System and persons on the ground
introduced by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP)
unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operation are identified and
that necessary actions are taken to mitigate the
corresponding safety risks to the public over the life of
the program. The plan should include, as a minimum, design
requirements, emergency procedures, and maintenance program
requirements to minimize the safety impact of UAS
malfunctions in flight, continuous monitoring of the CBP's
unmanned aircraft operation, analysis of malfunctions and
incidents, and lessons learned from other operators of
similar UAS designs. (A-07-86)

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http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2007/A07_70_86.pdf

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The complete recommendation letter is available on the Web
at the URL indicated above.

The letter is in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and can
be read using the Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later from Adobe
(http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html).
       
An archive of recommendation letters is available at
http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/letters.htm.
Electronic versions of letters may or may not include
enclosures; however, related publications, accident
briefs, and aviation accident synopses may be found
on the NTSB website.

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