ABSTRACT

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) became the sole entity responsible for overseeing and regulating the national airspace for commercial aircraft for the United States in the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. The 2008 guidance by the FAA illustrated the methods by which a system can be certified for access into the National Airspace System. In order to show the equivalent level of safety, or any level of safety, the FAA acknowledges that: risk mitigation may include other methods or systems that an applicant may propose for consideration. Safety Management Systems are the future of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) safety and are currently being integrated into all six of the UAS test sites. The holy grail for integration of UAS is to create a fully fledged system of airworthiness certification that is flexible and responsive to advancing technologies and applications for UAS.