The NTSB’s first investigation of an unmanned aircraft accident highlighted a problem that many have worried about and that the FAA has yet to address: the different standards applied to manned aircraft versus unmanned aircraft (UA) operations. It has long been the case that accidents that result in the deaths of many people gain far more attention than accidents involving fewer fatalities. The different standards, either overt or unacknowledged, between passenger and cargo operations illustrate how the safety approach varies depending on whether the cargo is people or freight. The growing popularity of UAs with military and government agencies has resulted in a dichotomy in the application of safety standards, according to the NTSB.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection turboprop General Atomics Predator B on an IFR flight plan crashed on April 25, 2006, in a residential area near Nogales, Ariz., after the pilot’s console locked up and the switch to a backup console failed due to improperly performed emergency procedures. Probable cause of the accident, according to the NTSB, “was the pilot’s failure to use checklist procedures when switching operational control from a console that had become inoperable due to a ‘lock-up’ condition, which resulted in the fuel valve inadvertently being shut off and the subsequent total loss of engine power, and a lack of a flight instructor in the ground control station.”
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