Despite the regular efforts on the part of national regulators, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Air Transport Association (ICAO and IATA), as well as on the developers of aeronautical equipment, the vast majority of accidents and incidents continue to occur due to the human factor. With the course of time, aircraft design and reliability are steadily and significantly improving, nevertheless, the number of aviation accidents is happening more and more frequently, including accidents with serviceable aircraft. Considerable evidence is the fact that a Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) remains one of the most common causes of aviation accidents. This is specified by a wide variety of problems that require the search for complex, interconnected solutions. Among these issues it is necessary to highlight the increasing sophistication of the aircraft as a technical system, as well as practically unchanged for more than half a century approaches to pilots training for the type and maintaining their qualifications based on pre-defined scenarios taking into consideration the previous experience of aircraft operation. One of the possible ways out of the situation may be the introduction of so-called concept of personnel training relying on the evidence-based training analysis (EBT) based not on the pursue to memorize a certain list of exercises but to develop each particular pilot’s skills and competences that could help him cope with any unpredictable situation. The key feature of EBT lies in refocusing on the analysis of original causes of unsuccessful maneuvers (actions of the pilot) primarily in order to correct the wrong actions instead of repeatedly complying with the "correct sequence of actions". In this regard, the tools providing a continuous analysis of the pilot's actions to identify errors for the purpose of realigning (forming) the pilot's professional competencies in due time, are of paramount importance. The article describes the content of the methodology representing an ultimate goal to develop recommendations aimed at improving pilot’s expertise based on generalized and personalized models of the pilot, as well as solving the inverse problem of flight dynamics using a comparative assessment of a particular pilot piloting quality.

The article provides a brief analysis of the problems of the existing flight safety management system in the state aviation of the Russian Federation, based on the lack of stable positive dynamics of accidents reduction. Brief conclusions from the analysis of the currently proposed scientific approaches for accidents reduction are given. The most significant practical results in the field of building a safety management system for a particular flight are considered. A new approach to the implementation of on-board flight safety management systems based on event management is proposed. The method of event-based safety management of a particular flight allows us to exclude the real time manifestation of known dangerous factors. To implement it, all processes related to known hazards are described in the form of events and assembled into complete groups of events. Control of the occurrence of the complete groups of events, their analysis and event management are carried out by event management models developed for each dangerous factor. When a certain number of events in one or several complete groups of events is reached, the aviation system protection algorithm, by preventing the occurrence of the remaining one or several events of the complete group, prevents erroneous actions of the crew, which prevents the occurrence of aviation incidents and accidents. As an example of the method implementation, the principle of forming an automated guided reactivity model of the event control contour for the dangerous factor "Violation of the Established Minimum Safe Parameters of the Aircraft Flight" in relation to an arbitrary maneuverable aircraft is considered in the article. The system, having registered the events that determine the group flight, is included into the analysis of dynamic elementary events determining the position of the wingman relating to the leading aircraft inside the event control contour in terms of range, angle of sight and altitude separation. When the parameters of one of the dynamic events approach the boundary of the event control contour, the system uses a recommendation or control action to set limits to the parameters not to go beyond the contour, which prevents the occurrence of erroneous actions of the crew.

The system of operational control (SOC) of civil aircraft (CA) airborne equipment incorporates onboard equipment, as an object of control, means and programs of operational control, maintenance personnel of an operating enterprise, carrying out procedures using control means and organizing processes of operational control for the specified objects using control programs. Quality of A/C onboard equipment SOC becomes obvious in the process of operational control. Operational control is a set of processes for determining the technical condition (TC) of objects of control (OC) at the various operational stages: in flight, during operational maintenance (pre-flight and post-flight control), and periodic maintenance, after dismantling equipment from board. The process of determining OC TC of includes control, diagnostics, forecasting and recovery. The process of operational control is characterized by reliability of control – the property of TC control, which determines the extent of display objectivity as a result of monitoring the actual OC TC. Based on the SOC analysis as an object of research, the analysis of the problem of its forming and updating as well as the developed hierarchy of criteria for the effectiveness of interacting systems, the general problem will be formulated as follows: on a given set of parameters of onboard equipment SOC, let us determine the parameter values so that the system costs in the process of operational control reach minimum while performing all the required tasks and observing all the limitations for own parameters of the system as well as indicators of its technical efficiency.

The development of the unmanned aircraft market is hindered by the regulatory deficiencies of this aviation segment. This fully applies to the most important aspect of the activity – flight safety management. In accordance with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) ICAO and the Air Legislation of the Russian Federation, the availability of flight safety management systems (SMS) is mandatory for operators, developers and aircraft manufacturers, as well as for aircraft engines and propellers. However, this requirement does not fully apply to organizations involved in design, manufacture and operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). At the same time, UAS use in various spheres of economic activities is associated with significant and diverse risks for manned aircraft, as well as vehicles, people and important infrastructure facilities on the ground. The article analyzes the current situation with the regulatory framework with relation to SMS development and implementation in the unmanned aviation segment at the international and state level and the prospects of its improvement. Based on experience, the most major methodological issues while SMS developing and implementing in various entities-aviation services providers are related to the selection, implementation and application of methods for safety risk management techniques, which have significant features for UAS operation. Considering anticipated adoption of SMS requirements in the near future, some innovative practices in this area of activity about aviation safety risk management for such entities have been reviewed.

The problem of choosing a rational declination system from alternative variants at the stage of forming the appearance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a vertical launch is considered. Currently, the vertical launch is becoming more widely used for surface-to-air unmanned aerial vehicles, which are considered in this paper. A characteristic initial part of the trajectory of such unmanned aerial vehicles is the declination to the required angular position over a short period of time. The UAV declination process requires the generation of relatively large control moments. Declination of surface-to-air UAVs is implemented by means of moment gas-dynamic control with two main methods – by using the thrust vector control system of the UAV main jet engine or by using special additional gas-dynamic devices. The alternative variants of declination systems for solving the problem under consideration are:

– a thrust vector control system with gas rudders installed in the UAV engine nozzle or just behind its cut-off on special pylons;
– a pulse propulsion system that creates the UAV declination moment by means of jets of micro-thrusters, which are activated by a special algorithm.

In the comparative analysis of declination systems, the criterion for choosing the correct method of declination was the actual near border of the affected zone. The mass minimum of the projected UAV is accepted as the criterion for choosing a rational variant of the declination system. The main relations for calculating the main design parameters of the considered declination systems are given. The appearance parameters of the hypothetical surface-to-air UAV of medium range with alternative declination systems were calculated. A comparative analysis of the results obtained was carried out.

It is known that many researchers of the mechanical properties of layered composites claim that in comparison with traditional structural metals and alloys, composites have serious advantages, mainly associated with high specific characteristics of static and fatigue strength. It should be noted that a well-founded idea of the advantages of composites strength characteristics is of particular importance for the elements of aircraft structures, taking into consideration an extremely important issue of operation safety. Unfortunately, at least, such a reasonable conception with respect to fatigue resistance characteristics has not been formed yet, consequently, a number of points concerning application of laminated composites in aircraft structures remain unanswered. The article presents a method and an example of comparing the fatigue life of the specimens with the open hole made of modern aluminum aviation alloy 1163T7 and carbon laminate AS4-PW. An obvious advantage of fatigue life of carbon composite materials compared to aluminum alloy at room temperature is noted. On the basis of a number of significant factors to be considered, the specified advantage can be largely diminished. First of all, these factors include the following: effect of temperature and humidity and degradation of the resistance characteristics of layered composites after impact damage. Taking into account the effect of the listed factors, the results of the comparison for the fatigue resistance characteristics of the specimens under consideration are presented. It is noted that the mentioned comparison was carried out using experimental data for the specimens considered under cyclic loading with constant amplitudes as well as under irregular loading, therefore, the comparison results may be slightly different. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the similar comparison presents relevant interest and should be considered when drawing final conclusions about the advantages (or their absence) of the fatigue resistance characteristics of carbon laminates over aluminum alloys.