F-35 Safety Program

Safety of Flight: Manned and Unmanned Aircraft

Austin Emory

ASCI 202

May 16, 2013

Mr. Polak

Abstract

Technology with aircraft seems to change and improve very quickly in the last 30 years. Ideas and concepts that were only thought of wishful thinking are becoming reality and are revolutionizing the aircraft industry. With continued attention to flight safety, air travel is the safest it’s ever been. As we begin to transition from manned aircraft to remotely piloted aircraft, the need for strict safety standards is more needed than ever before. While supporters and critics often disagree about the inception of UAV technology into the civilian air transport industry for cargo and air travel; both sides agree that the technology is constantly advancing and with proper regulated growth, concerns on both sides will be addressed and solved. Although it’s impossible to expect the all aircraft accidents will cease, the goal of both sides is to reduce them as much as possible.

Safety of Flight: Manned and Unmanned Aircraft

For decades, aircraft manufactures and government agencies have work to make aircraft flight safer to prevent accidents and mishaps. Through improved avionics, understand and integration of Human Factors, and crash avoidance systems, aircraft safety is as safe as it’s ever been. Now we are at the dawn of a new variable that will greatly affect flight safety, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Since the Wright Brothers took flight in the early twentieth century, the world has set its sight to the skies for transportation and military applications. While technologies progressed early on, flight safety took a back seat till the number of accidents and fatalities became so high that the public and the government began to realize that this new industry needed safety regulations to try to limit and decrease the amount of incidences. As the regulations became stricter, it forced the aircraft industry to design aircraft systems that would...