9.7 - Blog: Case Analysis Effectiveness Post and Blog URL Submission

Case analysis method calls for a careful diagnosis of current conditions so that appropriate strategic actions can be recommended in light of the strategic intent and strategic mission. According to Lundberg & Enz (1993), the following steps are guidelines or methods to analyze each case thoroughly.

Step 1: Gaining Familiarity

a. In general--determine who, what, how, where and when (the critical facts in a case).

            b. In detail--identify the places, persons, activities, and contexts of the situation.

c. Recognize the degree of certainty/uncertainty of acquired information.

 Step 2: Recognizing Symptoms

a. List all indicators (including stated "problems") that something is not as expected or as desired

b. Ensure that symptoms are not assumed to be the problem (symptoms should lead to identification of the problem).

 Step 3: Identifying goals

a. Identify critical statements by major parties (e.g., people, groups, the work unit, etc.).

b. List all goals of the major parties that exist or can be reasonably inferred.

 Step 4: Conducting the Analysis

a. Decide which ideas, models, and theories seem useful.

            b. Apply these conceptual tools to the situation.

c. As new information is revealed, cycle back to sub-steps a. & b.

 Step 5: Making the Diagnosis

            a. Identify predicaments (goal inconsistencies).

            b. Identify problems (discrepancies between goals and performance).

c. Prioritize predicaments/problems regarding timing, importance, etc.

 Step 6: Doing the Action Planning

a. Specify and prioritize the criteria used to choose action alternatives.

            b. Discover or invent feasible action alternatives

c. Examine the probable consequences of action alternatives.

d. Select a course of action.

e. Design an implementation plan/schedule.

f. Create a plan for assessing the action to be implemented.

            After case analysis on the past mishaps of military UAV ‘Predator’ in the air force, the major causes were the design of control panels (human machine interface) at ground control station (GCS) and pilots did not follow approved checklist procedures closely. In order to improve effectiveness and prevent recurrence of similar mishaps, it is deemed appropriate to adapt the philosophy and principles of Crew Resource Management (CRM), which emphasizes on the communications among crew members in the cockpit and the ergonomic design of human-machine-interface.

Control and monitoring of critical systems such as engine propulsion and flight control required special attention. It is advisable to use guarded switches for these systems to prevent any unintentional actions. Any system failure must trigger related fault messages with visible (color) and audible (sound) attention getters, and also to display checklist (actions to be taken) to guide the pilots as to rectify system failure immediately. It is impossible for the pilot to make sound decision or judgment during split seconds under cockpit/ ground control station environment. Decision making mechanism is a complex process especially for the pilots of manned and unmanned aircraft. Proper training are the keys to prepare and equip pilots with necessary discipline and know-how in order to improve performance and prevent mishaps.

From the analysis and conclusion, it is useful for students to realize that decision making mechanism for pilots can be applied to many fields. First, it starts with identifying problems with perception involving mainly visual and vestibular systems. It is important to see clearly with balanced postures before good decision can be made. Second, the brain will be able to use these information and process them based on memory. Finally, appropriate actions can be performed to solve problems.

Training is necessary to highlight human limitations and to understand most of aircraft mishaps and accidents are due to human factors. Once this is established, students will appreciate the importance of checklists and procedures used in the cockpit/ ground control station environments. Human strive on earth for million years and survived with two feet firmly on ground. Inventions of manned and unmanned aircraft are new to our species. Only structured training enables us to overcome human limitations and to ensure flying is safe for all.

  

Reference:

C.C. Lundberg and C. Enz, 1993, A Framework for Student Case Preparation, Case Research Journal 13 (summer): 144.

7.5 - Research: Operational Risk Management

Introduction

All commercial airline operators must conform to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 121 Subpart L covering the requirements for maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alterations in order for the aircraft to stay airworthiness. The regulation stipulates maintenance programs, maintenance organizations and structures, maintenance systems, continuous analysis and surveillance, and maintenance recording requirements. The regulations also specify that each operator/ applicant must have a maintenance program adequate to perform the work, and a separate inspection program adequate to perform the required inspections (Federal Aviation Administration, 2016).

A continuous airworthiness maintenance program combines the maintenance and inspection functions used to fulfill the total maintenance needs of the operator/ applicant. The basic requirements of a continuous airworthiness maintenance program include the following:

1. Inspection

2. Scheduled maintenance

3. Unscheduled maintenance

4. Overhaul and repair

5. Structural inspection

6. Required inspection items (RII)

7. Reliability program

 

Aircraft Inspection during Transit

            Most of the aircraft transit are less than 2 hours. During this period, many activities such as food catering, potable water and waste servicing, cargo unloading and loading, aircraft refueling and aircraft walk-around check are to be carried out concurrently. Aircraft walk around checks involved maintenance engineer and also by pilot prior to aircraft departure. Maintenance engineer routinely inspects aircraft structure for dents and damages by foreign object debris (FOB), and lightning strike. According to Boeing, lightning is initiated at the airplane’s leading edges, which ionize, creating a strike opportunity. Lightning currents travel along the airplane and exit to the ground, forming a circuit with the airplane between the cloud energy and the ground (Boeing, 2016). In view of this, inspection on aircraft upper fuselage is necessary during each aircraft transit check.

Inspection Challenges and Solutions

            The height of aircraft varies. Inspection of aircraft upper fuselage requires ground equipment such as platform, scaffolding or scissor lift. They are bulky and also an obstruction to other vehicles, which provide aircraft services mentioned above. Also, maintenance engineer takes about 2 hours to perform visual inspection on upper fuselage as moving of platform is necessary to accomplish inspection task. In order to improve efficiency and productivity, it is recommended to accomplish inspection task using UAV. The objective is to scan through aircraft upper fuselage using camera installed on UAV. The video can be streamed and viewed by maintenance engineer on ground in real time. Some of the advantages by deploying UAV are:

·         The inspection takes about 10 minutes compared to 2 hours previously needed

·         The videos or pictures can be recorded and analyzed when required

·         Cost saving in terms of man-hour and expenses on ground equipment

Proposed UAV- DJI Phantom 3 Professional

Flight Control

            The flying of DJI Phantom 3 Professional is remarkably intuitive and easy. Critical flight phases such as takeoff and landing can be easily controlled. The aircraft is responsive to commands and automatically handle the most complex aspects of flight stably and safely (DJI, 2016).

GPS-Assisted Hover

            Phantom 3 is equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) combine to make the Phantom 3 completely aware of its location and relation to controller. It hovers more precisely, moves more accurately, and locks onto satellites faster. With the new availability of GLONASS, a minimum of 36 satellites are available to controller around the world at any time. Moreover, through the DJI Pilot app, controller can track its location on a live map, and record takeoff point to allow aircraft to fly home with the tap of a finger (DJI, 2016).

Vision Positioning System

            It processes information from every sensor and completes complex calculations in real time, giving controller a worry-free flight experience (DJI, 2016).

Automatic Flight Logs

            Phantom 3 automatically logs and remembers the details of every flight taken. Complete flight route, flight time, flight distance, flight location, and cached versions of any photos and videos took during flight are at fingertips for future reference. At the same time, an advanced flight recorder constantly records data from all of Phantom 3’s internal mechanisms, which can be easily shared with the DJI support team for Phantom 3 troubleshooting and maintenance (DJI, 2016).

Intelligent Battery

            Higher voltage, more energy, and greater power combine to give improved flight experience. This upgraded Intelligent Flight Battery has built-in sensors and bright LEDs that display status and remaining power of battery in real time. Phantom 3 continuously calculates its current distance and the amount of power needed to return, so controller always know how long it takes to fly and time to recharge battery (DJI, 2016).

Unmatched Propulsion

            Each motor has the power and precision needed for precision flight. Brushless motors work with lightning-fast ESCs to allow fast, agile, and responsive aircraft movement. The powerful motors able to speed up, quickly increase or decrease altitude, and stop immediately. DJI’s powerful air braking mechanisms stop Phantom 3 instantly, making it hover in place as soon as the control sticks are released. Aerodynamic self-tightening propellers boost thrust and stay firmly in place (DJI, 2016).

Epic Aerial Video

            Phantom 3 is equipped with camera which is compact and easy to use. It comes with 4K video at up to 30 frames per second capturing and 12 megapixel photos that look crisper and much cleaner (DJI, 2016).

Hazard Analysis

            Before deploying UAV for aircraft inspection, through analysis on possible hazards during operational phase is necessary. Operational phase encompasses many stages such as planning, staging, launch, flight and recovery. Appropriate analysis tool within each stage will allow for early identification and early resolution of safety issues (Barnhart, Hottman, Marshall, & Shappee, 2016).

Preliminary Hazard List

            Preliminary Hazard List (PHL) is used as a brainstorming tool to identify initial safety issue in the Phantom 3 operation. It is important for the list to be comprehensive with the contributions from subject matter expert, who has in-depth understanding of the operational stages. Preliminary hazard list & analysis for Phantom 3 is shown.

PRELIMINARY HAZARD LIST/ ANALYSIS (PHL/A)
Date: 16 Jul 16		Prepared by: Ong Jin Woei				Page no.1 of 1
Operational Stage:		Planning	Staging	Launch	Flight	Recovery
Track	Hazard	Probability	Severity	RL	Mitigating Action	RRL	Notes
1	Loss of data link	Remote	Critical	10	Observe flying distance	15
2	Low Battery	Probable	Catastrophic	2	Standby additional batteries	8
3	Bad weather	Occasional	Critical	6	Observe weather condition	10
4	Collision with aircraft	Remote	Catastrophic	8	Pilot to attend training	12
5	Distorted video & image	Remote	Critical	10	Check camera before flight	15
RL= Risk Level RRL= Residual Risk Level				Probability, Severity & Risk Level defined in Table 2.

Table 1: Preliminary Hazard List/ Analysis (PHL/A)

Table 2: Risk Assessment Matrix (Risk Level) retrieved from MIL-STD-882D

Operational Hazard Review and Analysis (OHR&A)

            OHR&A is used to identify and evaluate hazards throughout the entire operational stages. This is a crucial part of the ongoing and continuous evaluation of hazards and provides the feedback necessary to determine that the mitigating actions employed have worked as expected (Barnhart, Hottman, Marshall, & Shappee, 2016). Sample of Operational Hazard Review and Analysis (OHR&A) for Phantom 3 is shown:

OPEARTIONAL HAZARD REVIEW & ANALYSIS (OHR&A)
Date: 16 Jul 16		Prepared by: Ong Jin Woei				Page no.1 of 1
Operational Stage:		Planning	Staging	Launch	Flight	Recovery
Track	Action Review	Probability	Severity	RL	Mitigating Action	RRL	Notes
1	Loss of data link	Remote	Critical	10	Observe flying distance	15
2	Low Battery	Probable	Catastrophic	2	Standby additional batteries	8
3	Bad weather	Occasional	Critical	6	Observe weather	10
4	Collision with aircraft	Remote	Catastrophic	8	Pilot to attend training	12
5	Distorted video & image	Remote	Critical	10	Check camera before flight	15
6	Unable to establish link with aircraft	Remote	Marginal	14	Update software latest configuration	20
RL= Risk Level RRL= Residual Risk Level				Probability, Severity & Risk Level defined in Table 2.

Table 3: Operational Hazard Review & Analysis (OHR&A)

Risk Assessment

            The purpose of risk assessment is to provide a quick operation checklist prior to flight activity. It addresses the risks, hazards and concerns related to the flight operation. Also, it serves as decision-making aid to the pilot and operator. More importantly, it allows safety and management of real-time information needed to carry out operation safely (Barnhart, Hottman, Marshall, & Shappee, 2016). Sample of risk assessment checklist for Phantom 3 is shown:

sUAS RISK ASSESSMENT
Embry-Riddle Worldwide Campus
UAS Crew/ Station: _____/ _____    _____/ _____   _____/ _____   _____/ _____
Mission Type	Support (1)	Training (2)	Payload Check (3)	Experiment (4)
Hardware Changes	No (1)			Yes (4)
Software Changes	No (1)			Yes (4)
Operation Airspace	Special Use (1)	Class C (2)	Class D (3)	Class E, G (4)
Has PIC flown this type of aircraft	Yes (1)			No (4)
Flight Condition	Day (1)			Night (4)
Visibility	≥ 10 km (1)	6 – 9 km (2)	3 – 5 km (3)	< 3 km (4)
Ceiling in feet AGL	≥ 10,000 (1)	3000 – 4900 (2)	1000 – 2000 (3)	< 1000 (4)
Surface winds		0 – 10 KTS (2)	11 – 15 KTS (3)	≥ 16 KTS (4)
Forecast winds		0 – 10 KTS (2)	11 – 15 KTS (3)	≥ 16 KTS (4)
Weather Deteriorating	No (1)			Yes (4)
Mission Altitude in feet AGL		< 1000 (2)	1000 – 2900 (3)	≥ 3000 (4)
Are crew members current	Yes (1)		No (3) : requires currency flight
Other Range/ Airspace activity	No (1)			Yes (4)
Established lost link procedures	Yes (1)			No (4) Flight to be cancelled
Observation Type	Line of sight & chase (1)		Chase only (3)	Only LOS (4)
UAS Grouping	Group I (1)	Group II (2)	Group III (3)	Group IV (4)
Risk Level
	20 – 30 Low	31 – 40 Medium	41 – 50 Serious	51 – 64 High
Aircraft Number:			Aircraft Type
Flight Recorder by:
Date:				Time:

Table 4: sUAS Risk Assessment

Conclusion

            Be it manned or unmanned, safety is paramount to any flight operations. In order to promote safety culture and awareness in the company, strong adherence to risk assessment checklist prior to flight is mandatory. It is the only way to mitigate human factors’ mishap, and to prevent aircraft incidents and accidents. In order for the program to succeed, participations from both management and operation crews are needed. Management must enforce the use of checklist prior to flight and penalize those operation crews, who intentionally refuse to conform. Also, it is necessary for management to evaluate the effectiveness of check list from time to time, so that it remains relevant and valid for operation crews.

Reference:

Boeing. (2016, July 16). Lightning Strikes: Protection, Inspection, and Repair. Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/2012_q4/pdfs/AERO_2012q4_article4.pdf

DJI. (2016, July 16). Phantom 3 Professional. Retrieved from http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-3-pro

Federal Aviation Administration. (2016, July 16). Overview — Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/amt_handbook/media/faa-8083-30_ch12.pdf

Marshall, D. M., Barnhart, R. K., & Hottman, S. B. (Eds.). (2016). Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Baton Rouge, US: CRC Press. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu