The prevalence of violence and aggression towards remotely piloted aircraft pilots and their ground crew : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Aviation at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Abstract

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are unmanned aircraft (UA) which are controlled by a pilot on the ground from a ground control station or by using a handheld flight controller. RPA are used both recreationally, or commercially as a tool to support goods and services provided. Narrative-based accounts from those within the sector report a rising number of events of violence and aggression from the public towards RPA pilots and their ground crew. However, these concerns are based on social media reports, news articles, and anecdotal accounts, rather than through empirical research. Although current literature around public acceptance of UA sometimes includes those within the sector, the focus of extant research is squarely on the interests of the public rather than from the perspective of the RPA crew. The main purpose of this research is to identify how widespread or prevalent violence and aggression towards RPA pilots and their ground crew is; and, if identified, to ascertain the nature of these threats and aggression towards RPA pilots and ground crew. To address these questions, an online survey was undertaken which generated 337 responses, 293 of which were valid and comprised the sample. A mixed-method approach was taken to balance richness of data (qualitative, for describing experiences) and generalisability (quantitative, for user and flight characteristics). Given the wide range of data collected, a similarly wide range of analyses were used. This included an overall grounded theory approach to the qualitative data utilising both content and thematic analysis. The quantitative data utilised chi-squared goodness of fit tests, single sample t-tests, and regressions (linear, ordinal logistic, and binary logistic). This research identified 52.90% of participants had experienced violence and aggression during RPA operations, with the nature of these events being predominantly anger and verbal aggression. This research also revealed a small number of events (24) where the instances of violence and aggression involved firearms. Additionally, this research determined that professional RPA users with higher flight hours were more likely to experience violence and aggression while flying an RPA. Interestingly, this research identified that there was no single RPA application (e.g., photography) that attracted significantly more threats of violence and aggression than any other application. This suggests that violence and aggression towards RPA users may be a threat for the whole RPA sector rather than just one area. This thesis provides implications for aviation regulators, the police, and government agencies associated with public privacy regulations. One critical implication for both the aviation regulator and the police is to recognise the danger to public safety of an RPA pilot or crew member being distracted by angry members of the public. Although the intent from the public member may not directly be towards interference of the aircraft, the consequences of the angry public members actions may jeopardise the safety of the aircraft. For this reason, this research recommends further investigation into dealing with malicious behaviour towards the RPA and RPA user from the public. This research also determined the majority of these threats against RPA users were unreported to the aviation regulator or to the police. The implication of this, is that neither organisation will have an overall understanding about what is occurring in the sector and, therefore, will be unable to address this safety concern. Both organisations should encourage RPA users to report events of violence and aggression and explain the benefits for the RPA sector in reporting these issues. One possible reason identified in this research for violence and aggression towards RPA pilots and their ground crew was confusion around privacy regulations. A further recommendation from this was the benefit of education for the public around privacy regulations along with what the public can do in the event of misconduct by an RPA user.