Abstract
While aviation technological research, especially in the hypersonics sector, has been ever-developing, aviation mental health mitigation has stayed relatively stagnant. One area of particular interest in hypersonic development is low-cost design methods. This capstone project explored the low-cost hypersonic design space and ultimately developed an affordable, long-range hypersonic projectile that competed in and won the first annual UCAH Hypersonic Design Competition. In contrast, the STS component of this project examines the lack of progress in aviation mental health risk mitigation. Through an Actor-Network Theory approach, the following STS research paper analyzes the effectiveness of both aviation regulatory policies and safety technologies in managing pilot mental health risks. Both hypersonics research and aviation mental health risks are major topics of interest in modern aviation discourse. This portfolio approaches the two subjects from different angles: the capstone project focuses on optimizing technical performance, and the STS paper highlights current constraints that technology alone cannot solve.
The UCAH Hypersonic Design Competition challenged teams to develop and submit a low-altitude hypersonic projectile design for the chance to get their prototype tested in either a ground-based gun launch or a hypersonic wind tunnel. The two primary objectives for the competition were to optimize the unpowered vehicle for affordable manufacturability and range. To meet these objectives, the team designed a surrogate-modeling based optimization framework that used computational simulations to optimize the dimensions of the vehicle for maximum aerodynamic efficiency. This competition ultimately aimed to develop the incoming hypersonics workforce while simultaneously introducing fresh design ideas backed by test data into the hypersonics research space.
UVA’s Hyper-LARP (Hypersonic Low-Altitude Research Projectile) team ultimately won the competition, designing an unpowered hypersonic winged glider capable of travelling up to 100.4 kilometers away from its ballistic gun origin and impacting the ground at a Mach number of 3.18. The team utilized affordable construction methods, such as additive manufacturing, to produce the design at an estimated cost of only $14,760. Following a finalist presentation expanding on the team’s test plan, the design was selected for fabrication and testing at the prestigious CUBRC hypersonic wind tunnel facility. The team continues to work with CUBRC on the manufacturing of the test article, and data collection will occur in early June.
The STS component of this thesis portfolio focuses on examining how FAA policy, pilot workplace norms, and aviation safety technologies interact to shape the management of pilot mental health risks. Several case studies in recent years, such as the Germanwings incident, have demonstrated the unique risks associated with mentally unstable pilots and their danger to aircraft passengers. This paper utilized Actor-Network Theory to identify several actors in the aviation mental health risk mitigation network, especially related to policy and safety technologies, and to evaluate the network’s effectiveness in ensuring aviation safety.
The research paper ultimately found that the current aviation mental health risk mitigation network has severe deficiencies. Current FAA regulatory policy incentivizes mental health condition concealment through arbitrary decision making and rigid medication policy. On the technological side, once an unwell pilot is in the air, on-board safety technologies can do little to mitigate risk. While current policy suggests that change is moving in the right direction, there is still much to be done to create trust between pilots and regulatory bodies, including more accessible care, transparent decision making, and improved risk identification systems.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisors: Chris Goyne, Xinfeng Gao
STS Advisor: Pedro Augusto Pereira Francisco
Technical Team Members: Michael Novak, Victoria Sun, Michael Della Santina, Channing Reynolds, Joshua Stoner, Eric Voigt, Soren Poole, Genevieve Forrer, Joe McPhail, Kayla Kadlubek, Ava Frodsham, Arwen Nicolau, Owen McGilberry, Lukas Hange
