Sky Lantern Safety Flight Profile for Risk Assessment

摘要

Due to the rise in popularity of sky lantern, research is required to determine the public-safety risk level and its variation as both awareness and usage increase. This work is a first step into a research project to quantify the risk of very low level operational airspace impact and potential ground-fire posed by sky lanterns. In order to achieve this goal, this paper details a linearized model of the sky lantern vertical flight profile based on ground-level experimental results. A sample of five different types of sky lanterns, in three shapes with different volumes, were used in full-scale laboratory experiments, to obtain quantitative data to determine the sky lantern buoyancy force. By combining the dynamic hot air balloon model found in literature with experimental research data as a reference, a linear dynamic model describing the vertical flight profile of a sky lantern was generated. This dynamic model will subsequently be used for future research to quantify the sky lanterns' potential safety risks, such as the likelihood of impact with low-flying aircraft, interactions with tall structures, and the potential for initiating forest or grass fires by touching down while still aflame.