Researchers use objective method to analyze ‘near misses’ of drone and crewed aircraft

Few incidents are better generators of headlines, public shivers, and the ire of UAV sector experts than reports of “near misses” between drones and piloted aircraft – encounters whose very definitions and delineations are often left to the subjective dread of the beholder. A recently released study, however, uses objective methods for analyzing such mid-air events, and offers suggestions for further reducing their relatively limited numbers.

The report is the work of researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Unmanned Robotic Systems Analysis, who observed piloted aircraft and drone traffic around Dallas-Fort Worth Airport’s Terminal C between 2018 and 2021. Both its methodology and observations may calm the hackles raised among UAV sector professionals and observers by recurring general media reports of fearfully worded near-midair collisions (NMACS) between smaller craft and passenger planes. For starters, the study was based…