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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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    <item>
      <title>Aeromedical HFACS Nanocode Review and Validation</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2646975</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Office of Aerospace Medicine (AAM) has developed a specialized Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) nanocode framework designed to systematically capture medical contributors to aviation accidents. This innovative taxonomy aims to link latent or undetected pilot health issues to unsafe acts and broader systemic oversight deficiencies, thereby enhancing the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA’s) ability to understand and mitigate medically related accident risks. However, before this framework can be operationalized within FAA safety programs, it requires rigorous, independent validation to ensure its reliability, usability, and overall effectiveness in real-world applications. The core objective of this research is to evaluate whether the nanocode system accurately identifies causal medical factors in aviation accidents and supports improved aeromedical decision-making. To achieve this, the study will address key questions: How consistently can trained analysts apply the nanocode framework to actual accident cases? Does the framework clearly capture essential medical and supervisory contributors to unsafe acts? And, what refinements are necessary to enhance its clarity, usability, and integration with other FAA safety analysis systems? The answers to these questions will determine the readiness of the framework for widespread implementation and inform future training, oversight protocols, and policy guidance within the FAA’s aeromedical and safety assurance ecosystems.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jan 2026 08:56:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2646975</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Gene Expression and Biomarker Utility in Postmortem Samples</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1949473</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Bioaeronautical Sciences Research Laboratory (BSRL) performs toxicological analyses for U.S. civil aviation accident victims who die as a result of that accident, and are designated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as having been in control, or potentially in control, of an aircraft at the time of accident.  The samples that the BSRL receives are collected by medical examiners responsible for the locality in which the accident occurred.  Once on hand, the samples are subject to toxicological analyses to determine the presence of a range of drug substances, and these findings are used to help determine a medical probable cause of the aviation accident.  In order to determine how useful such aviation accident victim samples are for transcriptional biomarker screening, and the extent to which transcriptional indications of cannabis use can be detected in such samples, the BSRL's functional Genomics team will conduct transcriptomic profiling of a subset of deidentified THC-positive and THC-negative aviation accident victim samples to determine if those samples provide a suitable RNA source for sequencing-based analyses, if expression of certain genes exhibit over or underexpression in correlation with the presence of THC, these expression profiles may be useful s supporting indicators of THC activity in samples to provide additional clarification to current toxicological analyses.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2022 16:27:51 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1949473</guid>
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      <title>Investigate Age Impacts on Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) Crashes in General Aviation</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1881804</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) crash is defined as an unintentional collision with terrain (the ground, a mountain, a body of water, or an obstacle) while an aircraft is under positive control. It is one of three high-risk accident occurrence categories identified by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Although advanced technologies have dramatically reduced the number of General Aviation CFIT crashes over the past 20 years, CFIT crashes continue to occur and at least half of them are fatal. Therefore, it is quite momentous to identify the contributing factors and recommend countermeasures to prevent or mitigate CFIT crashes. This research will utilize the General Aviation CFIT crash data collected from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and pilots’ information from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to perform statistical analysis to reveal the impacts of pilots’ age and other pilot related contributing factors on the occurrence of CFIT crashes in General Aviation. Based on the analysis, technology-based and policy-level countermeasures will be proposed to reduce the CFIT crashes. The research findings will help policymakers to better understand the underline reasons for General Aviation CFIT crashes and update their current practices and regulations.
The research is developed based on the CAMMSE theme of addressing the FAST Act research priority area of “Improving Mobility of People and Goods” for multimodal transportation. As discussed earlier, General Aviation plays an important role in moving people and goods, such as business travel or overnight delivery. Improving the safety of General Aviation is the foundation of improving the mobility of people and goods transported by General Aviation. The research is relevant to the CAMMSE research thrust “Innovations to improve multi-modal connections, system integration and security”. Specific project objectives include:
(1)	Review current practices and regulations on the safety operations in General Aviation,
(2)	Identify pilot related factors contributing to CFIT crashes in General Aviation,
(3)	Investigate the impacts of pilots’ age on the occurrence of CFIT crashes in General Aviation, and
(4)	Recommend technology-based and policy-level countermeasures to mitigate General Aviation CFIT crashes.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 04 Oct 2021 13:27:28 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1881804</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Rotorcraft Wire Strike</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1714474</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Rotorcraft operate at low altitudes which put them at risk to strike wires from many sources.  Rotorcraft accidents tied to wire strikes have shown that the aircraft is damaged significantly and the accident often is fatal.  The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA’s)  Rotorcraft Directorate has approved research to attempt to reduce the wire strike accidents for rotorcraft.  Wire strikes often occur in VFR conditions with clear, sunny days, in these conditions, wire can be difficult to see.   There are wire cutters on larger rotorcraft but not on smaller, lighter rotorcraft because they often are flying to slow to allow the cutters to work effectively.  

The FAA has developed a research program that looks at several areas that could potentially reduce wire strikes on rotorcraft and is currently Phase 1 with PEGASAS.  The first is to develop a mechanical wire cutter for the lighter aircraft that would assist in the cutting of cables.  The second is to determine the feasibility of developing a sensor package capable of detecting all potential wires and alerting the pilot of a pending strike.  The third is to determine the feasibility of working with an Electronic Flight Bag manufacturer to include a wire database that could alert a pilot of a pending wire strike. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2020 16:15:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1714474</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Airborne Collision Severity Evaluation - Structural Impact</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1565989</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Conventional 14 CFR system safety analyses include hazards to flight crew and occupants that may not be applicable to unmanned aircraft.  However, UAS operations may pose unique hazards to other aircraft.  The effect of an airborne collision between a UAS and a manned aircraft is a concern to the public and government officials at all levels.  While the effects of bird impacts on airplanes are well documented, little is known about the effects of more rigid and higher mass UAS on aircraft structures and propulsion systems.  Preceding work was focused on Narrow Body Commercial Aircraft and Business Jets operating under FAR 25 requirements.  For this next progression of Airborne Collision Severity Evaluation work, three major research areas have been identified: (1) Identify the probability of impact deflection due to boundary layer interactions; (2) Evaluate the severity of small UAS collisions with Rotorcraft; and (3) Evaluate the severity of small UAS collisions with General Aviation.

Research will be completed cooperatively utilizing the resources at Wichita State University – National Institute for Aviation Research (WSU-NIAR), Mississippi State University (MSU), University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), and Montana State University (MtSU).  
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 2018 08:58:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1565989</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Airborne Collision Severity Evaluation - Engine Ingestion</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1562138</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The research goal for this project is to better understand the interaction of a fan and UAV during an ingestion scenario. The objectives of this research are to: (i) create a generic high bypass ratio fan model that has features that are representative of a fan in a modern engine typically found on a large commercial transport; (ii) develop a component and full scale validated model of a quadcopter UAV (initially validated critical components in the first phase of the airborne collision research at different conditions) at the conditions of the ingestion event; and (iii) simulate various ingestion events to understand the sensitivity of a collision to various parameters of the ingestion.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 08 Oct 2018 13:53:23 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1562138</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>UAS Ground Collision Severity</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1549416</link>
      <description><![CDATA[No abstract provided.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:24:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1549416</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>UAS Airborne Collision Severity Evaluation</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1549414</link>
      <description><![CDATA[No abstract provided.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:24:48 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1549414</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>UAS Ground Collision Severity Studies</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1484944</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Alliance of System Safety for UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) COE and one certified partner will conduct analysis and testing to extend the results of the Task A4 Ground Collision Severity and the Task A11 Part 107 Waiver Study conducted in 2015-2016 by the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), Mississippi State University (MSU), Kansas University, Embry Riddle University and Wichita State University (WSU). The continued analysis of collision dynamics of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) in conjunction with the definition and validation of injury metrics is critically important to defining standards and metrics necessary for rulemaking for flight over people. The ASSURE COE consisting of UAH, MSU, WSU and The Ohio State University (OSU) and one certified partner consisting of Virginia Technical University will conduct the research under this proposal. The team will develop a simplified testing method for testing injury potential of sUAS to provide a clear path for applicants to apply for a flight over people waiver under Part 107 or provide a safety case that can be consistent with future flight over people rulemaking. Additional testing, using Anthropomorphic Test Dummy (ATD) Hybrid III 50th Percentile Crash Dummies, will be used to evaluate injury potential of a greater number of vehicles and provide validation data for human modeling efforts and the simplified test methods. ATD Hybrid III 50th Percentile Crash Dummy tests will also be utilized to further refine the Phantom 3 tests conducted during the Task A4 and Task A11 tests and will include additional wood and steel impact tests at different impact KEs and impact orientations to validate conclusions made in the Task A4 Final Report. ATD Hybrid III tests will include scenarios to evaluate steady state parachute descent rates for certain vehicles that would not be acceptable without such devices in order to evaluate the simple test method for larger multi-rotors and fixed wing platforms. The research will solely focus on the post deployment/descent aspect of the parachute on the sUAS impacts and not be utilized to develop a parachute standard or evaluate parachute deployments to develop such a standard. Additional modeling of impact dynamics with a human body model and a biofedelic head and neck model will be conducted. These modeling tools will be validated using testing conducted under this research. These models will allow for a broader evaluation of a number of impact scenarios and vehicles without the limitations and cost of complete testing. The Ohio State University will conduct cadaver testing to collect human injury data to validate the human injury metrics defined by the ATD Hybrid III Crash Test Dummy tests and the modeling efforts. The ASSURE COE will deliver a comprehensive set of tools and validation test cases to support the use of the simplified test approach and refine the required methods for applicant testing that can provide a framework for flight over people safety evaluations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), industry and the general public can broadly accept.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Oct 2017 17:26:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1484944</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>UAS Airborne Collision Severity Peer Review</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1484942</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Travel funds to participate in final peer review. If all safety measures fail and a small unmanned aerial system (UAS) does hit a manned aircraft, it's important to understand what happens. Wichita State University is leading a team with The Ohio State University, Mississippi State University and Montana State University to conduct computer simulations of UAS air-to-air collisions and jet engine ingest. This research will help inform the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness standards for UAS that lessen damage in airborne collisions.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Oct 2017 17:11:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1484942</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>UAS Ground Collision Severity</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1397574</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Right now, the FAA doesn't allow UAS operations over people. But what is the risk in a ground collision? Are there ways to reduce the risk? The University of Alabama at Huntsville, Mississippi State, Embry Riddle Aeronautical and Kansas Universities are collaborating to conduct computer simulations of UAS ground collisions to find answers to these questions. The Principle Investigator for this project met with the Micro UAS ARC, to inform the members of ASSURE research findings, that in-turn, served as the bases for recommendations from the ARC to the FAA. This research will help the FAA set guidelines for UAS operations over people and possibly set design specifications to reduce risk to people and property.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 05 Feb 2016 09:26:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1397574</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>UAS Airborne Collision Severity Evaluation</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1397573</link>
      <description><![CDATA[If all safety measures fail and a small UAS does hit a manned aircraft, it's important to understand what happens. Wichita State University is leading a team with The Ohio State University, Mississippi State University and Montana State University to conduct computer simulations of UAS air-to-air collisions and jet engine ingest. This research will help inform the FAA airworthiness standards for UAS that lessen damage in airborne collisions.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2016 16:06:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1397573</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Redesigning Weather-related Training and Testing of General Aviation Pilots: Phase II</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1360963</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The purpose of the research is to conduct a comprehensive review and evaluation of weather-related flight training, testing, and standards for general aviation (GA) pilots using criteria derived from the analysis of factors known to contribute to visual flight rules (VFR) flight into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) accidents.  Also, to develop advanced flight simulation scenarios, based on known VFR flight into IMC accident profiles, to empirically train, test and evaluate the skills of VFR-only pilots in applying basic weather knowledge.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2015 01:01:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1360963</guid>
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