Crew Resource Management (CRM) is a method in aviation that increases the situational awareness and flexibility of an aircraft flight crew. This method has been shown to reduce errors and increase the safety of an aircraft in flight. Even though the flight crew has been removed from the aircraft in UAS operations CRM remains important, and I would argue is more important due to this fact. If the aircraft encounters a problem in flight the crew is not on board to react to the situation, and often must react from a distance that can distort the situation. For this reason the flight crew must preemptively respond to emergencies, and maintain effective communication and cooperation during the flight.
Tracking Aircraft use
The purposeful integration of CRM into UAS operations has begun with our C-Astral Bramor PPX aircraft. The complexity and frequent use of this aircraft made it a natural and important place to begin. The first step was to create a way to track aircraft use. Figure 1 shows the sheet created to track aircraft use. It is a very simple checkout sheet that would commonly be seen in any operation tracking material usage.
Figure 1: Checkout sheet
This simple sheet enables us to quickly determine when the vehicle was last flown, what sensor is equipped, where the vehicle was flown, and who is responsible for the aircraft at that time. This basic level of book keeping is the first step to enabling repeat flights and allows an individual to officially accept responsibility for the aircraft.
Standardized Metadata forms
The second, and larger, step to enabling repeat flights was to standardize the metadata collected and recorded during flights. Prior to the creation of a standardized form operators had a general idea of what they needed to collect, but it took a few flights for new operators to figure out what was and was not important. As operations expanded into multiple multirotors, multiple crews, the Bramor PPX (also with multiple crews) ensuring that each crew knew the correct data became very cumbersome. Figure 2 shows the sheet that was created.
Figure 2: Metadata form
This sheet was created as a text file so that it could be opened on any computer and without risk of format changes between versioning of software. This file provides little ambiguity on what needs to be collected, and separates the information into sections. Each of these sections provides information for different purposes. The "general" section provides the information required to replicate the flight and inform the crew of battery usage for cycle tracking. The "flight information" and "geolocating" sections provide information required for data processing and logbook entries. Knowing data collection start and end times, along with the location, allows the data analysts to access the CORS network and increase the accuracy of the PPK GPS equipped on the Bramor PPX. Knowing the coordinate system being used, if a PPK GPS is not in use, allows the analysts to process the EXIF data in images appropriately. The "weather" section is where the flight crew will enter the METAR from the nearest airport. METARs are put out every hour, and provide more local weather than many weather forecasting services. The "crew" section allows the recording of the core crew present for the operations, and allows for more accurate inquiry of operational details (asking the sensor operator about sensor specific questions or the PIC for flight specific questions). The "notes" section at the end is very important. This section allows the crew to note anything, positive or negative, unique that occurred during the flight and can provide additional context not present in the previous sections, and allows any member of the flight crew to have their opinion officially written down.
Crew formation
The Bramor PPX crew was made a standard three people with additional visual observers optional. Creating a standard crew prevented the need to constantly train new crew members, and allowed experience with the vehicle to be rapidly gained between the three crew-members. This experience allowed the crew to understand which portions of the operation needed improvement and which parts just needed additional training. For example, parachute packing and battery charging were discovered to be portions of the operation that required training to perform adequately. However, another part of the operation did need improvement, the checklists.
Checklist Creation
During repeat operations with the same crew we discovered that the checklist provided needed a few edits and clarifications. We began writing these in the margins and jumping around the checklist. After one flight of adding no edits to the checklist we began a full revision of the checklist. The biggest contributor to a full revision was the ordering of the sub-checklists in the checklist. Figure 3 shows the original and new checklist orders.
Figure 3: Checklist ordering
We believed that the original order had the flight crew moving back and forth too often and prevented an operational flow from developing. One benefit of the original checklist was that each item was given a number, and the numbering continued throughout the checklist. The new checklist includes all items from the original checklist, but now focuses on the stage of the operation being performed. The new checklist is shown in figure 4.
Figure 4: New Checklist
To the right of each heading a series of numbers can be seen, these are where the steps were located in the original checklist. All items from the original checklist are present in the new checklist, and items that had been written into the margins are also present. Not present in this checklist is a checklist for the sensor operator. This is currently in progress.
Crew Roles and Responsibilities
During checklist creation crew roles and responsibilities were defined. Three crew roles were defined pilot in command (PIC), sensor operator, and first officer (FO). PIC is responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft from arriving at the site to leaving the site. The sensor operator (Sensor) is responsible for ensuring successful operation of the vehicle payload. The FO is responsible for assisting both the PIC and Sensor in their operations pre-flight and act as an interface between visual observers (VOs) and the PIC in flight. The purpose of UAS operations is data collection, and this data collection must be conducted safely; for this reason the PIC and Sensor share command of the vehicle. During setup the FO will assist both the PIC and Sensor in their preparation for flight. Before vehicle launch two actions take place. First the PIC will check with the Sensor to ensure that the payload is ready for flight, the vehicle cannot be launched until the payload is ready. Second the PIC and Sensor both have an opportunity to cancel the flight if they are uncomfortable with sensor operation or flight safety, during this step the FO is encouraged to voice any concerns that they see. If any member of the flight crew brings up a portion of the checklist that they feel needs to be reviewed, then that portion of the checklist will be reviewed to ensure that the checklist has been completed adequately. Once the vehicle is in flight the FO's primary role is as an interface between the PIC and VOs. During flight the VOs will be updating the FO on which VO has visual contact with the vehicle, and if the PIC loses visual contact the FO will report that visual contact is maintained through a VO or if visual contact is lost entirely. If continuing the flight is determined to be unsafe then the PIC has final say in ending the flight.
The effect on operations
During our first operations it would take the flight crew up to 90 minutes to prepare for a flight, once reaching the site. After implementing the methods described above the flight crew can prepare for a flight in 15-20 minutes. This dramatic improvement is mostly due to changing the flight crew from "whoever is available and wants to fly" to "these are the only people who fly this vehicle", and the reorganization of the checklist. While the time from site arrival to vehicle launch has decreased the safety of the flight and data collection focus have not been compromised.
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