Operational Risk Management

Introduction
The integration process of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system (NAS) has been occasionally hampered by incidents and accidents around the world, indicating that more work needs to be done to ensure operational safety. The risks associated with the operation of UAS are real and has to be properly managed. The Raven RQ-11 is a small lightweight unmanned aircraft system (sUAS), designed for rapid deployment and high mobility for both military and commercial applications (Aerovironment, 2016). Being unmanned, the aircraft can be used for conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over hostile areas without being too intrusive with the aid of video sensors (Aerovironment, 2016). It is capable of autonomous and manual operation and can be conveniently launched by hand without any need for prepared take-off and landing strip.

For any UAS operation, it is good to perform risks assessments to provide the UAS operator a straightforward idea of what to expect before deciding and committing to the actual operation, and allow safety and management of real-time information needed to continually review and monitor operational safety (Barnhart, 2012). The operational risk management is a decision-making tool to systematically help identify operational risks and benefits and determine which course of action are suitable to be taken for any given situation (FAA, 2000).
 

Preliminary Hazard List/Analysis (PHL/A)
According to FAA (2000), a hazard is “any real or potential condition that can cause degradation, injury, illness, death or damage to or loss of equipment or property. For the preliminary hazard analysis, several hazards have been identified during the flight stage as shown in Table 1 under appendix, which is based on the template from Barnhart (2012, p. 125). Other operational stage can also be prepared separately. Hazards for planning stage can include tall trees and mountains, electrical cables, rough terrain for landing, etc. Staging hazards can include electrical shocks during set-up and launch stage hazards can include engine failure, personnel injury during hand launching. The risk level is based on MIL-STD-882D/E in the appendix section of Barnhart (2012). The higher the number for risk level, the lower the risk.
 

Operational Hazard Review and Analysis
According to FAA (2000), risk is defined as probability and severity of accident or loss from exposure to hazards. In order to have continuous evaluation of hazards and provide the feedback necessary to determine the effectiveness of the mitigating actions, an operational hazard review and analysis (OHR&A) is to be performed after PHL/A. According to Barnhart (2012), the main difference between PHL/A and OHR&A is in the action review column, as shown in Table 2 under appendix section. A review is to be carried out on the mitigating actions and annotated in the review to indicate their effectiveness to lower risks.
 

Operational Risk Management Worksheet
Table 3 in appendix shows the operational risk assessment worksheet is meant to be a decision-making tool as discussed previously to ascertain the GO/NO GO status of the UAS flight. The worksheet can be filled up by crew members prior to flight. Left column of the matrix shows the conditions for evaluation and points are allocated to each condition status. Once the form is filled, the total of the scores will determine the risk levels of the mission. The higher the score, the higher the risk. Depending on the risk score and what the mission entails, the approver will endorse on the worksheet to indicate that the risk assessment was carried out with due diligence and sound supervision.
 

Conclusion
Operational risk management is a useful tool to evaluate the risks involved in Raven RQ-11 operations. Based on recommendations from FAA in the ORM 6-step process, there is a need to capture lessons learnt for both positive and negative ones so that they may be part of similar future ORMs. There is no one-size-fits-all approach in ORM and the methods for risk management are dependent on individual methods and experience levels (FAA, 2000).

References
Aerovironment (2016). Raven RQ-11 A/B. Retrieved from http://www.avinc.com/images/uploads/product_docs/Raven_Datasheet_v1.1.pdf

Barnhart, R. K. (2012). Introduction to unmanned aircraft systems. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis.

FAA (2000). FAA System Safety Handbook, Chapter 15: Operational Risk Management. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/risk_management/ss_handbook/media/Chap15_1200.pdf