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Lab 06 - Advanced Mission Planning and Simulated Emergency

15 Points

Nathan Tyler Rose

Anestis Athanasios Tsagris

Last edited 4 days ago by Jacob Daniel Sieber.

Lab 06 Sign Up

Weekly writing (03/08/2026)

This week, functional operations training was conducted, and this was most apparent during the creation of flight plans for the Believer and the Ultra. Several emergencies were also simulated during the enaction of these plans in X-plane 11. Further orientation practice was conducted for PICs so that they will understand the sight picture of unmanned aircraft in the field.

Overview

In this lab there are two major tasks. Believer Final Inspection Prep as well as Advanced Mission Planning and Emergencies. The Believer Final Inspection portion should be completed as a group.

The mission planning portion should be completely individual work and should not be completed with the assistance of your peers. We will be planning two separate missions. One will be a mission for the ULTRA on X-Plane and the other mission will be for your believer when operations start. All questions regarding mission planning should be directed immediately to your instructor. Task 0 should be completed before your sign up time.

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Sign up for simulator time here⁠

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Resources and Tools

Tasks - Believer Final Inspection Prep

Task 0 - Review Lab 01

Your classmates provided a quality assessment and punch list for your aircraft as a preliminary check before final inspection. Review this punch list to ensure all items were properly addressed.

Task 1 - Final Power On

Perform one final power check of your Believer. Be sure that the controls, motors, and all peripheral sensors work as expected. This is your final check before passing it off for final inspection next week.

This was completed with all parts seeming to work as intended.

Task 2 - Review Group E-portfolio

Your group e-portfolio will be reviewed as part of your final inspection next week. Be sure that you are happy with it’s condition.

The group 4 e-portfolio is completed up to this point, and the punch list has been completed in its entirety.

Task 3 - Signoff Form

Complete the final inspection form below, confirming that your group is ready for final review beginning next week.

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Tasks - Simulator

Task 0 - Pre-Briefings

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Using Section D of the ULTRA UAS QRH above, create the following (simplified) briefings before your flight. You will brief your instructor verbally, so you need not write down your briefing; be prepared to lead it.

Airport Briefing

1. Operational purpose 2. Facilities and Logistics 3. Access 4. Speed limits 5. Hours of operations 6. Operations point of contact 7. Facilities point of contact 8. Communication method within team 9. Communication frequency with ATS 10. Areas of operations 11. Circuit directions and height 12. Safety pilot position 13. BVLOS procedures 14. Concurrent operations allowed

Daily Briefing

1. Activities 2. Weather current and forecast (Wind, direction, visibility, precipitation, temperature, dew point) 3. NOTAMS 4. Traffic 5. Fleet/Aircraft active

Flight Briefing

1. Objective and roles 2. Air traffic services coordinated 3. Satisfactory air vehicle inspection 4. Route/Time/Fuel 5. DATX and SPAS battery and configuration 6. Radio links deconfliction 7. Interna/ External comms – frequencies and numbers 8. Personal Protective Equipment and fire extinguishers 9. Service bulletins 10. FRAT – Start, complete & submit 11. Threat and Error management 12. Specific recovery procedures 13. Emergency scenario - review 14. GCS initial Setup and Start Checklists

For item 10, use the FRAT below.

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Task 1 - Kidney Bean Mission

Using

Broken link⁠

, other class resources, and the built-in GCS User Manual, recreate the mission below for KLAF RWY 10. Be sure that you achieve/answer the following:

What is the correct loiter direction for the rally point and why?

The correct loiter direction for the rally point is east because it is far from the campus and the airport. It would be easiest to make left traffic as well because that is the easiest for the pilot to get orientation information from having just came off left traffic.

Why is the takeoff point not on the runway? Consider when the wayboard is achieved.

The takeoff point is not on the runway because it is a point where one wants to climb to an altitude and therefore the aircraft will continue to climb to that point. It is a sort of obstacle clearance command in a way.

Which waypoint appears unnecessary for landing on RWY 23 at KLAF? Under what conditions might this waypoint be necessary?

For landing on runway 23 at Lafeyette, point 10appears unnecessary. However, it may be necessary if one needed to have obstacle clearance in the descent on final. Point 10 could hold just high enough to get over the obstacle and then descending further.

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Kidney bean mission plan for KLAF RWY 23.

Kidney bean mission plan for KLAF RWY 23.

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Task 2 - Auto/stabilize handoff

Control transfer follows a three-step callout:

"you have control," "I have control," "you have control.“

Specific calls between UAV Pilot Instructor and student:

"I have the sticks," "you have the sticks," "I have the sticks"

— confirmed by a nudge.

Alerts:

If callout isn't completed in three steps, current commander retains control.

Instructor must release momentary switch in emergencies to assume control formally.

Refer to the control transfer calls above to transfer command of the aircraft in the following scenarios. Repeat these for all group members:

Tips

Under normal operations, the SP will trigger mode changes.

To abort a landing, SP throttle to 100% or press the abort landing button in GCS.

Auto-takeoff

GCS: State intention, direction of circuit, altitude, rally point location.

SP: Read back and confirm GCS intentions.

Stabilize in downwind, continue circuit (aircraft already in infinite auto circuit)

SP: State intentions. Nudge aircraft.

GCS: Confirm nudge seen. Confirm intentions.

SP: Switch to stabilize after a proper countdown. State control

GCS: Confirm SP has control.

SP: Confirm control.

Auto in downwind, perform an SP-triggered aborted landing (go-around) to return to circuit.

GCS: State intentions. Setup GCS for taking control.

SP: Confirm intentions. Switch to auto after a proper countdown.

GCS: State control

SP: Confirm GCS has control

GCS: Confirm control.

SP: Abort auto landing just before flair. State go-around.

GCS: Confirm go-around. Ask for the reason.

SP: State the reason for the go-around. For example, the aircraft was not aligned with the centerline.

GCS: Update mission as required.

Full stop stabilized landing.

SP: State intentions.

GCS: Confirm intentions.

SP: Nudge.

CGS: Confirm nudge seen.

SP: Switch to stabilize after a proper countdown. State control.

GCS: Confirm SP has control

SP: Confirm control

GCS: Update current waypoint as needed.

SP: Land, apply brakes, switch to taxi mode.

GCS: Confirm taxi mode seen. Request SP intentions.

SP: State intentions to switch control with another team member.

Task 3 - Emergencies

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Using section 8 from the ULTRA UAS - SOP above, answer the following questions:

What is the target speed for dual engine failure?

The target speed is 60 knots.

What is the target speed for single engine failure?

The target speed is 52 knots.

When should you deploy flaps?

One should deploy the flaps when landing is assured or when there is too much energy as they increase both lift and drag dramatically.

When you recognize that you’ve lost both engines, what should your first move be when you are within a few hundred feet of the ground? Speculate how this changes if you are at a few thousand feet above the ground?

Near ground: Near the ground, one must simply fly the plane. It is not necessary to mess with checklists or navigation, as there is no time for anything but damage control. The aircraft should be flown to an area which is safe to land/crash.

Far above ground: With much altitude, one may try a few more things than if they are down low. For instance, one might try to trouble shoot issues, reach for farther landings areas, and run checklists. Depending on altitude, a recovery may even be possible depending on the variables at play. Essentially, there is less of a time crunch and more time to affect the outcome positively with sound decision making.

Simulated Dual Engine Failure

Without warning, you will experience dual engine failure. It is your responsibility to alert your crew in an effective manner and land the ULTRA in a safe location.

Simulated Single-Engine Failure

Without warning, you will experience a single engine failure. It is your responsibility to alert your crew in an effective manner and land the ULTRA in a safe location.

Task 4 - Post-Briefings

Using

Section D of the ULTRA UAS QRH⁠

above, prepare to deliver a post-briefing to your instructor covering the following sections:

Out-Briefing

Daily De-Briefings

Task 5 - Believer Mission as homework

Taking the skills you have learned from this lab and lecture this week, plan an efficient mission. This mission will not be used for X-Plane simulations and should meet the criteria talked about in the lecture for a believer operation. This plan will be used when we operate the believers. We will be conducting operations at this location.

The red pin is on a grass strip used for landings.

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Task 6 - Lab Out Brief

A quick out brief regarding the lab with you instructor

Flight Plans:

X-plane: "C:\Users\jacob\Downloads\AT 219\Sieber Mission plan and waypoints.json"

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Sieber Mission plan and waypoints.json

3.6 KB

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Believer: "C:\Users\jacob\Downloads\AT 219\Jacob Sieber Believer two mission.json"

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Jacob Sieber Believer two mission.json

486 B

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Deliverables

Upload to Brightspace the following

PDF of this completed page

.json file of your X-Plane flight plan

.json file of your Believer flight plan

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