Key Safety Principles for Drone Flight Operations Teams

By Mike Ball / 08 Aug 2020
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Iris Automation drone flight operations team

Iris Automation has released an article outlining the key safety principles that drive the success of the company’s Flight Operations team. Iris continually tests and updates its Casia Detect and Avoid (DAA) technology for UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) via real-world flights conducted by the team, and the data collected is used for the verification and improvement of Casia’s computer vision-based technology.

Read the full article on Iris Automation’s website here

The three essential components of the Flight Operations team’s safety policy are:

Highly Trained and Qualified Personnel – all Iris pilots are certified by the FAA. This includes both General Aviation (GA) pilots, who fly small private aircraft used to intercept test Casia, and Remote pilots, who operate the various drones in the Iris fleet and the systems they run on.

Well-Maintained Equipment – Casia can be integrated with a variety of different UAVs, including multi-rotor and fixed-wing drones. The Flight Ops team must therefore be trained to operate and maintain multiple small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) models, and the team’s routine allows time for preventive and corrective maintenance.

Validated and Proven Operating Procedures – Iris’ team conducts operations according to an in-house Flight Operations Manual (FOM), which provides a proven and tested structure for dealing with different systems, environments and personnel. The FOM lays out personnel requirements, equipment lists, communication protocols, operational risk management, and general and emergency procedures.

Iris Automation’s safety program focuses on all three of the above components, showing how the company is committed to safety not just in the sense-and-avoid functions of Casia, but also in the flight testing operations that make the system possible. To find out more, read the full article on Iris Automation’s website.

Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact