Shortly after 3 a.m. on April 25, 2006, an MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aircraft on a border patrol mission crashed northwest of Nogales, Ariz. Although no one was injured, the crash fueled concern about the safety of unmanned aerial systems. The direct cause of the crash can be tied to an initial failure of the displays and a failed transfer of controls between operators. However, using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), many latent errors that contributed to the accident were uncovered that were not addressed by the National Transportation Safety Board report. The HFACS approach for this accident examined all issues leading up to the crash and uncovered several organizational influences that were significant contributors to the Predator crash.
展开▼
