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Service tries to cut unmanned craft crash rate

The Air Force Safety Center is working to reduce the high crash rate for the remote-controlled Predator and its larger brother, the Reaper.

Accident rates for remote-controlled aircraft are counted separately from manned aircraft. During fiscal 2008, 10 MQ-1 Predators crashed, with a mishap rate of 6.99 per 100,000 flying hours.

The Air Force lost two MQ-9 Reapers — for a rate of 14.7.

Col. Sid Mayeux, chief of the Safety Center’s Aviation Safety Division, pointed out that while the number of Predator and Reaper crashes doubled in 2008, the number of unmanned vehicle flight hours doubled, too, as more aircraft are deployed and aircrews trained.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk flew without a significant accident.

The newly established Unmanned Aerial Systems Safety Tiger Team brings operators, maintainers and experts in human behavior to look at ways to improve crew and aircraft performance while the service fields more of the aircraft.

Flying a plane by remote control is difficult because the aviator knows only what video cameras and control panel gauges tell him, pilots of unmanned aircraft have said.

Designing a new control console so that pilots have quicker access to information could be a long-term solution, Mayeux said. He said of the existing consoles:

“The cockpit layout is not the best when setting up a pilot for success.”