The US Army is to allow its unmanned air vehicle pilots – defined as aircraft operators (AO) – to use certificated UAV simulators to retain their operator currency as part of revised flight regulations for UAVs coming into force on 7 September.
The new regulations also allow a 2h increase in the number of aircrew duty hours permissible in a single 24h period, with this rising to 16h from a previous limit of 14h. However, the actual number of permissible flying hours is being reduced, down to 8h from 10h specified by regulations laid down in May 2004
The new regulations require AOs to carry out a minimum of 1h of UAV flying, plus take-off and landing, every 60 days as the baseline currency standard, but with simulators able to be used to meet this requirement in place of actual aircraft operations.
The regulations also allow for the granting of exemptions for AOs to use simulators to retain currency for periods of up to 180 days where environmental conditions prevent safe conduct of actual flight with operational hardware.
Aircraft operators will be required to participate in the launch, recovery and conduct of 1h of actual flying every 120 days, however, for currency to be maintained, unless the environmental conditions waiver is applied.
The stepped-up role for simulators identified by the revised regulations excludes their use in re-establishing AO currency if allowed to lapse.
The simulation option will specifically apply to crews for the US Army’s AAI RQ-7 Shadow 200, General Atomic Aeronautical Systems International MQ-1 Predator, Northrop Grumman MQ-5 Hunter and Pioneer UAV RQ-2 Pioneer UAVs.
Under the US Army flight regulations established in May 2004 and remaining in force until 6 September, AOs retain currency for up to 90 days between flights, after which time a proficiency flight demonstration has to be carried out. The same regulations require an AO to undergo refresher training if no flights are conducted for a 180-day period.
The May 2004 regulations also allow for AOs to receive up to a quarter of their semi-annual flying hour credits to be carried out using an accredited simulator, but do not link this with currency requirements.
The new regulations mandate that external operators – defined as mission ground crew involved in the physical take-off and landing of a UAV that does not perform those functions automatically – are required to support one take-off and landing, and emergency recovery procedures, once every 30 days to retain their currency.
The May 2004 regulations set a 45-day ceiling for external operator currency for performance of daylight operations, and a 90-day ceiling for nighttime operations.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
