4.2.2 Flight Safety Requirements
The overall goal of flight safety is to protect the public, the workforce (including
participants) and property while executing hazardous range operations under the
cognizance of the NASA/WFF but operationally delegated to the CSBF. Flight
safety risks generally cannot be completely mitigated. Missions are planned and
executed such that the flight safety risks are controlled to acceptable levels while
enabling the mission to achieve its objectives.
It is NASA/WFF policy to (as the first order of precedence) apply flight safety
techniques to contain vehicle related hazards from putting at risk the public, the
workforce, or property requiring protection. This generally involves developing
approved operating and/or impact areas and associated mission rules. For range
operations where the hazards cannot be fully contained, NASA/WFF implements
a risk management approach to characterize and mitigate range safety risks, and
ensure that any residual risk satisfies NASA’s safety risk criteria. In these cases,
the WFF Safety Office performs and/or reviews and approves a flight safety risk
analysis that accounts for the entire set of mission specific variables; i.e. vehicle
aerodynamic/ballistic capabilities; azimuth and elevation angles; wind effects, air
and sea traffic, and proposed impact areas. In order for the WFF Safety Office to
characterize the associated risks, vehicle design, reliability, performance, debris
model, hazards, and modeling of uncertainties for each flight and phase of flight
are needed.
Although the NASA Wallops Flight Facility has a detailed range safety plan,
this is primarily directed to rocket launch vehicles. There are sections of the plan
that also apply to launches out of the CSBF in Palestine, TX. These in turn are
carried over to balloon operations as applicable to other launch sites. The basics of
safety also apply to launching balloons because there are unique hazards associated with the ground support equipment as well as the balloons and their
payloads.
Such plans can incorporate many NASA and other government requirements
and policies and so can be quite detailed and lengthy. There are formal procedures
for addressing the various details as well as for adhering to the plans and for
reporting safety violations, accidents and their analysis and recommendations. A
safety plan must cover the assembly and launch of the payload, in addition to the
balloon and ground support equipment. The plan must also address the down
range aspects of the flight and the recovery of the payload and the balloon.
While the launch site for a balloon is not nearly as complex as that of a rocket,
it certainly has its hazards.
For a 1:53 minute video of an accident while launching a science balloon at Alice
Springs, Australia that almost killed several people, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C- _X8BfQ- 4
4.2 Mission Operations 71
The overall goal of flight safety is to protect the public, the workforce (including
participants) and property while executing hazardous range operations under the
cognizance of the NASA/WFF but operationally delegated to the CSBF. Flight
safety risks generally cannot be completely mitigated. Missions are planned and
executed such that the flight safety risks are controlled to acceptable levels while
enabling the mission to achieve its objectives.
It is NASA/WFF policy to (as the first order of precedence) apply flight safety
techniques to contain vehicle related hazards from putting at risk the public, the
workforce, or property requiring protection. This generally involves developing
approved operating and/or impact areas and associated mission rules. For range
operations where the hazards cannot be fully contained, NASA/WFF implements
a risk management approach to characterize and mitigate range safety risks, and
ensure that any residual risk satisfies NASA’s safety risk criteria. In these cases,
the WFF Safety Office performs and/or reviews and approves a flight safety risk
analysis that accounts for the entire set of mission specific variables; i.e. vehicle
aerodynamic/ballistic capabilities; azimuth and elevation angles; wind effects, air
and sea traffic, and proposed impact areas. In order for the WFF Safety Office to
characterize the associated risks, vehicle design, reliability, performance, debris
model, hazards, and modeling of uncertainties for each flight and phase of flight
are needed.
Although the NASA Wallops Flight Facility has a detailed range safety plan,
this is primarily directed to rocket launch vehicles. There are sections of the plan
that also apply to launches out of the CSBF in Palestine, TX. These in turn are
carried over to balloon operations as applicable to other launch sites. The basics of
safety also apply to launching balloons because there are unique hazards associated with the ground support equipment as well as the balloons and their
payloads.
Such plans can incorporate many NASA and other government requirements
and policies and so can be quite detailed and lengthy. There are formal procedures
for addressing the various details as well as for adhering to the plans and for
reporting safety violations, accidents and their analysis and recommendations. A
safety plan must cover the assembly and launch of the payload, in addition to the
balloon and ground support equipment. The plan must also address the down
range aspects of the flight and the recovery of the payload and the balloon.
While the launch site for a balloon is not nearly as complex as that of a rocket,
it certainly has its hazards.
For a 1:53 minute video of an accident while launching a science balloon at Alice
Springs, Australia that almost killed several people, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C- _X8BfQ- 4
4.2 Mission Operations 71