Easy Risk Assessment for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Outline of the Method

The key element of safety systems in air transport is risk management. The rules for the safety of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations are established by the Commission Implementing Regulations (European Union [EU]) and national regulations. Risk assessment is the foundation of all activities. The broadest scope is covered by the special category of flights for which the Joint Authorities for rulemaking on Unmanned Systems (JARUS) developed the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) analysis. The primary purpose of the SORA analysis is to create a comprehensive safety portfolio, which is attached to the National Aviation Authority (NAA) application for permission to perform specific category flights. Aviation authorities may accept the use of other risk analysis methods to demonstrate risk reduced to a safe level. Easy Risk Assessment (ERA) for UASs is an attempt to determine the risk for UAS flights in a simple way by considering a range of factors influencing risk management in a similar way to the SORA. It is an uncomplicated method, which determines threats and their sources, provides risk management, and allows the determination of the level of risk tolerance. The ERA is intended to be an alternative to the SORA methodology for those looking to carry out risk assessment.