Studies

How reliable are eyewitness reports?

Reliability of Eyewitness Reports to a Major Aviation Accident

Reliability of Eyewitness Accounts in Drone Sightings

WITNESSING AN ACCIDENT: Using Expert Psychological Testimony to Educate Juries about the Malleability of Human Memory

Unreliable airprox data around the world.

What distance is a drone visible from?

This study from Oklahoma State University found that even when they were looking for drones, the pilots of small aircraft detected drones only when they were a tenth of a mile away (161 metres) on average .

What are the chances of an airprox with an SUAS?

George Mason University study found the likelihood of a damage-causing collision with an SUAS to be once every 1.87 million flight years (and risk of injury to be once every 187 million years of operation).

UK CAA CAP1627: A drone is likely to be within visual line of sight of a passenger aircraft once every two million flights.

Drone threat to Commercial Air Transport – “This review concludes that the threat that small drones pose to airliners is economic damage to the operators, not a threat to flight crew or public safety.”

If there was a mid-air collision would a drone cause catastrophic damage to an airliner?

The government funded study which didn’t show that a drone can damage an airliner windscreen. (Despite the DfT misrepresenting the results)

Size Matters – Why so many airprox reports involving drones turn out to be inaccurate

This short article explains why so many airprox reports involving drones turn out to be inaccurate.

Geofencing/ altitude limits prevent drones flying where they shouldn’t. What percentage of drones have this?

DJI drones feature geo-fencing and hard altitude limits. This report by Skylogic Research shows that DJI drones account for 74% of drones in use: http://thedronegirl.com/2018/09/18/dji-market-share/

Yuneec accounts for a further 5% – and their products also include geo-fencing technology and a 122m (400ft) hard limit.

Other brands make up the rest of the market in 1%, 2% and 3% chunks and are mostly toys incapable of reaching problematic altitudes.

Drone performance: can a drone even get to the altitudes where airproxes are frequently reported?

Phantom 4 maximum height

Can a commercial airliner fly safely with one pilot?

According to this study by the Air Transport Safety Board of Australia, in-flight incapacitation of airline pilots is a frequent event. There are on average 17 pilot incapacitations per year on Australian-registered airliners. This equates to one every 34,000 flights or one every 21 days. The main causes are gastrointestinal illness, followed by laser strikes.