Lessons from 737 Max for Drones

Steve Lynes from Sandshurst, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0

It’s one of the conundrums of the drone industry: autonomy is necessary to maximize the benefits of uncrewed systems.  Anyone who has watched a science fiction movie or read the news, however, understands that a high level of autonomy comes with a level of risk: risk that the decisions made by a computer may, someday, be incorrect.

That was the topic of a session at the AUVSI NE UAS and AAM Summit October 26.  The session was led by Dr. Javier de Luis, Aerospace Consultant. Dr. Javier de Luis is also the brother of Graziella de Luis who was killed on-board a 737 Max in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019.  Dr. de Luis has researched deeply what went wrong with the 737 Max that caused two tragic crashes, including the one that killed his sister.  While there was no single issue or problem that led to the outcome, Dr. de Luis makes a compelling argument for focusing on some of the systemic problems which could help…