Safety assessment of aircraft transport service and the impact of unmanned aircraft accidents in traffic

Abstract

Specific aircraft services, such as transport, exist in a wide range of safety targets. This paper analyses a safety assessment method applicable to both manned and unmanned aircraft, offering the following contributions. First, different aircraft types, services, and current specifications have been reviewed and consolidated into exhaustive lists. This is followed by determining the most stringent service alongside the existing gaps, particularly the lack of a universal safety assessment method. To address these identified gaps, this paper assesses safety and the impact of its allocated performance, validated by the most stringent service. The primary significance of this paper lies in its contribution to academic literature, presenting innovative methods for deriving safety targets and apportioning risk, which are crucial for determining the required navigation performance parameters of accuracy, integrity, continuity and availability. This research provides foundational support for studies into integrity and continuity risk issues. The second significance lies in the advancement of practice, as service providers and policymakers can utilise the findings to establish relevant specifications including safety targets. To support industry and standardisation sectors in aircraft transport, an alert limit has been established at 3 m, accompanied by a safety target of 1.0 × 10 -5 per hour. Although these values provide a general benchmark, their applicability typically depends on both the type of service and the specific phase of operation.