Designing a NHTSA Crash Injury Research Analog Program for General Aviation/Advanced Air Mobility

While the Federal Aviation Administration has the goal of zero fatal accidents, pilot fatalities continue to occur in general aviation at a relatively consistent rate over the past 5-7 years. The majority of mishaps involve private pilots operating single-engine aircraft. Moreover, personal flights account for 74% of accidents and 81% of fatal accidents. The Office of Aerospace Medicine supports the Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention and the National Transportation Safety Board by performing a medical case review and toxicological analysis on all pilot fatalities. As part of this process, the Office of Aerospace Medicine actively coordinates and obtains autopsy reports for each pilot fatality. Presently, this data informs an assessment of pilot medical fitness relative to the circumstances of the mishap. Given the relative stability in the frequency of general aviation mishaps, this project seeks to evaluate whether the Office of Aerospace Medicine could leverage its current processes and data to improve the survivability of general aviation mishaps and thus improve progress towards the goal of zero fatal mishaps. Specifically, this project will benchmark the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Crash Injury Research (CIREN) program, the latter having the stated mission to improve the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of motor vehicle crash injuries to reduce deaths, disabilities, and human and economic costs. This project will develop a proposed analog program model for application to general aviation and potential extension to advanced air mobility in the future.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $205,000
• Contract Numbers:

  693KA8-22-C-00001

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Aviation Administration Office of Aerospace Mediicine

  800 Independence Ave., SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591
• Managing Organizations:

  Civil Aerospace Medical Institute-Federal Aviation Administration

  P.O. Box 25082
  Oklahoma City, OK  United States  73125
• Project Managers:

  Tvaryanas, Anthony

• Performing Organizations:

  Mitre

  7525 Colshire Drive
  McLean, VA  United States  22102-7539
• Principal Investigators:

  Collins, Lauren

• Start Date: 20220916
• Expected Completion Date: 20230930
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Aeromedical Research

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aviation medicine; Crash analysis; Injuries
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01860746
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Federal Aviation Administration
• Contract Numbers: 693KA8-22-C-00001
• Files: RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Oct 8 2022 1:34PM