GM4 Article 3(1) U-space airspace

• ED Decision 2022/022/R found in: U-space (2021/664) (May 2024)

GM4 Article 3(1) U-space airspace ED Decision 2022/022/R AIRSPACE RISK ASSESSMENT — SAFETY PART (a) The assessment phase considers the following items when approaching safety: (1) Important aspects to include in the assessment are related to traffic density, mapping information related to population density and obstacles, in-depth assessment of encounters with manned aviation, consequences of mid-air collision between unmanned aircraft, and meteorological information, among others. (2) It is expected that the assessment phase includes a description of the safety activities to be conducted during its life cycle (e.g. in a safety plan). The aim is to specify the detailed safety assessment activities to be undertaken for a given airspace. This preparatory process identifies the main safety issues associated with the airspace under assessment as soon as possible. (3) It is recommended that the following safety assessment activities, at a minimum, be performed at safety planning level: (A) Description of the key properties of the operational environment that are relevant to the safety assessment. (B) Initial identification of the hazards in the airspace under assessment. (C) Derivation of suitable safety criteria for the airspace under assessment. (D) Determination of the operational activities relevant to the airspace under assessment. (4) The safety assessment methodology describes the following elements: (A) Identification of hazards and definition of the safety criteria. (B) To satisfy the safety criteria, definition of the airspace safety specification at operational level in normal, abnormal, and emergency conditions. (C) Definition of the airspace safety requirements describing the high-level design characteristics of the functional system to ensure that the system operates as specified. (5) Such requirements may be allocated to different stakeholders (e.g. USSPs, UAS operators, etc.) (b) Safety hazards (1) Currently, in Regulation (EU) 2017/373, the term ‘hazard’ means ‘any condition, event, or circumstance which could induce a harmful effect’. This definition is maintained in the context of the U-space airspace risk assessment. (2) This definition relates to a broader understanding of what a hazard is. It addresses two types of hazards: (i) hazards inherent to aviation, which the functional system will have to mitigate; and (ii) ‘system-generated’ hazards, which are created by the potential failure of the functional system. (3) In an airspace risk assessment associated to UAS operations, both types of hazards (i.e. existing and system-generated hazards) need to be considered, analysed and mitigated. (4) By definition, hazards inherent to aviation are hazards which exist in the operational environment before any form of deconfliction has taken place. These hazards are the base for the definition of the safety criteria. Two examples of these hazards inherent to aviation, regarding air risk and ground risk respectively, could be: (A) a situation where the intended trajectories of two or more aircraft are in conflict; (B) a situation where the intended trajectory of an aircraft conflicts with the terrain or an obstacle. (5) System-generated hazards are hazards generated by the possible failure/malfunction of the functional system. Possible examples of system-generated hazards may be: (A) unmanned aircraft entering controlled airspace; (B) failure in separating two aircraft. For the identified system-generated hazards, there is a need to provide: (A) the assessed immediate operational effect(s); (B) the possible mitigation means in terms of measures to be implemented to protect against the risk-bearing hazards; (C) the assessed severity of the mitigated effect(s), in accordance with a severity classification scheme defined for the U-space airspace; (D) the airspace safety specification elements, to limit the tolerable frequency with which the system-generated hazard could be allowed to occur. (c) It is recommended that safety assurance activities be documented to present sufficient evidence that the actions taken have been adequate and complete in identifying and mitigating the risks (e.g. safety assessment report).