Trends in Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Airworthiness

摘要

Airworthiness of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) continues to be an evolving discipline within the new era of aviation. Both military and civilian airworthiness authorities are developing strategies for airworthiness approval of the different various sizes and configurations of RPAS, and to deal with unique airworthiness considerations related to having no human pilot on board the aircraft itself. This paper identifies five current trends in RPAS airworthiness, namely: 1) Use of safety targets for RPAS airworthiness; 2) Use of industry consensus standards; 3) Increasing RPAS autonomy; 4) Use of RPAS Concept of Operations (CONOPS) in airworthiness approval; and 5) Detect and Avoid (DAA) airworthiness. The paper discusses the status of these trends and provides recommendations for consideration.