Investigation of UAV related incidents and accidents

Abstract

To this day, there is a lack of research on unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) related incidents and accidents. Knowing why these happen, what potential outcomes they may have and how to avoid them from occurring, can be crucial. There is, furthermore, potentially a lack of transparency in the unmanned aviation industry, regarding reporting of incidents. In order to prepare conclusions within one set of regulations, only incidents occurring in Norway have been assessed. By identifying and analysing 154 incidents and accidents that have occurred over a total flight time of approximately 8200 hours, it has been found that UAV incidents and accidents often may be prevented by an UAV operator being competent and does not suffer from fatigue. What is more is that to this day the outcomes of the identified UAV incidents and accidents have not yet been critical, but in a worst case scenario many of the identified incidents and accidents had the potential of being so. The process of incident reporting in the unmanned aviation industry should also be revised, as there currently are no reasons to report incidents as the incidents are not analysed nor shared with the public. Furthermore, there exist several important risk reduction measures that currently are not included as a part of rules and regulations, but that may assist in preventing UAV incidents. In addition, the current set of rules and regulations regarding the use of UAVs do have a good concern for safety, still they can be improved by adding or revising some relevant rules or regulations as discussed further in the thesis.