Identify the governmental agency or authority or private enterprise responsible for providing security screening of passengers and cargo at the airport.

ASCI
404 – Research Paper Assignment

Airports

1.
Select a specific civil airport
located anywhere in the world andserving commercial airlines, then:

a.
Describe briefly the airport
and its owner/operator, airlines serving the airport, and the city, cities or
region served by the airport.

b.
Identify the governmental
agency or authority or private enterprise responsible for providing security
screening of passengers and cargo at the airport.

c.
Identify government legal
actions taken there to:

i.
protect the surrounding
airspace from obstruction by obstacles,

ii.
assure that land uses
surrounding the airport are compatible with aircraft noise,

iii.
establish runway use
preferences, approach & departure paths to minimize aircraft noise impact
on surrounding communities.

d.
Identify the specific
government agency or authority that took each such action.

e.
Identify the source and type of
government legal powers relied on to accomplish each of these actions.

f.
Include images illustrating the
airport and vicinity relating to those specific actions.

g.
Identify and briefly describe
all airline accidents that have occurred at or in the vicinity of that airport
since 1/01/2000, including the probable cause of each.

h.
Identify current airport noise
& safety issues that remain of concern to the community and any current
activity to address those issues.

i.
Analyze whether the airport’slevel
of activity and forecast air traffic demand appear sustainable at the present
location for the long term, clearly explaining your reasoning.

Airlines

2.
Select a specific commercial
airline headquartered anywhere in the world, then:

a.
Describe the airline, its
aircraft fleet, route structure and number of employees.

b.
Determine whether the airline
is organized as a corporation with private ownership or is owned by the national
government.

c.
Identify the governmental
agency or authority responsible for regulation of the safety of the airline’s
flight operations in its home nation.

d.
Describe the certification
requirements, including minimum flight time, if any, for commercial airline
flight deck crewmembers in the airline’s home nation.

e.
Identify the governmental
agency or authority, if any, empowered to regulate the routes flown, rates
charged, and other economic aspects of the airline’s flight operations.

f.
Determine the extent to which
the airline’s fleet consists of owned vs. leased aircraft

g.
Identify & describe all
accidents involving an aircraft operated by that airline since 1/01/2000,
including the probable cause of each.

h.
Determine whether the airline’s
pilots and maintenance personnel based in the airline’s home nation are
represented by a labor union or unions and identify and describe any strike
activity that may have disrupted airline operations since 1/01/2000.

i.
If neither the airline’s pilots
nor its maintenance personnel are represented by a labor union or unions,
discern whether a law of the airline’s home nation accounts for that and, if
so, briefly describe that law.

Non-Air
Carrier Commercial Aviation

3.
Select a specific,
existingnon-airline commercial aviation business (such as, for example, an FBO
or chain of FBOs) located anywhere in the world, then:

a.
Describe the company, including

i.
Form of business (corporation,
LLC, etc.),

ii.
Nature & scope of
operations (i.e.: fuel, supplies, maintenance, flight training, aircraft sales,
aircraft rental, etc.),

iii.
Location(s) and facilities,

iv.
Number of employees.

b.
Identify and describe with
specificity all insurance that company should now have in effect.

c.
Determine whether any of the
company’s employees are represented by a labor union or unions and identify and
describe any strike activity that may have disrupted company operations at any
location since 1/01/2000.

d.
If no employees of the company
are represented by a labor union or unions, discern the likely reason.

e.
If any employees of the company
are represented by a labor union or unions, but no strike activity has occurred
since 1/01/2000, discern the likely reason for the lack of such disruption.

f.
Determine whether the company
is or has been involved in any mergers with or acquisitions of or by other
companies and whether any such consolidation appears likely in the foreseeable
future.

g.
Identify laws applying to the
potentially anticompetitive aspects of business mergers & acquisitions in nation(s)
where the company is located.

4.
Blue Eyes, Inc. is a U.S.
company that began in the commercial aerial photography business but has been
expanding in recent years into other forms of airborne sensing, imaging, and
mapping such as infrared, ultraviolet, hyperspectral and radar (including
ground-penetrating radar). The company is headquartered in the Pacific
Northwest, and most of its customers are located in the states of Alaska,
Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Perceiving a growing market for its products and
services, but noticing an increasing shortage of qualified pilots available for
hire and capable of flying with the degree of precision required by these
missions, the company has decided to explore the possibility of acquiring &utilizing
unmanned aircraft systems to perform some of these missions. Some of these
tasks, such as precision micro-mapping of the ground moisture distribution on
smaller farms could be performed by UAS smaller than 55 lbs. (either fixed or
rotary-wing) and operating at or below 500’ AGL (above ground level)., while
other large-scale mapping such as the company performs under contract for state
environmental agencies would require much heavier, much higher-flying fixed-wing
UAS with much longer endurance.Some contracts require flight over congested
urban areas in busy controlled and positively-controlled airspace, while others
focus on sparsely-populated or unpopulated areas with less busy airspace. The
company has hired you to advise them on the UAS project in this time of rapid
legal developments in the industry. Research and prepare a paper covering the
following:

a.
Describe in detail the current
FAA regulatory requirementsgoverning the operations of the full range of UAS
that may be needed to cover as many of the company’s customer needs as
possible, considering the differing operating environments given and specifically
addressing:

i.
Airspace & altitude
restrictions,

ii.
Company, operator & visual
observer qualifications,

iii.
Company, operator & visual
observer line-of-sight limitations,

iv.
Limitations on operator &
visual observer simultaneously controlling/observing multiple UAS, and

v.
Potential penalties against the
company, its operators & visual observers in the event of an FAR violation.

b.
Analyze and describe the duties
of the company and its operators, if any, to notify any federal agency and
submit a written report in the event of an incident or accident involving a
company UAS.

c.
Analyze current state laws in
each of the 4 states where the company operates to determine whether, and if so
to what extent, they might also affect the company’s proposed UAS operations.

d.
Analyze the potential liability
of the company, its owners and employees in civil litigation arising out of
injuries to others (such as a collision with a manned aircraft or crash harming
persons or property on the ground during company UAS operations)

i.
Caused by a maintenance or
operational error by a company employee acting within the scope of his/her
employment

ii.
If the violation of an FAR
intended to prevent such accidents was involved

iii.
If UAS operations are deemed to
be an ultrahazardous activity (take into consideration that a major cause of
UAS accidents is interruption of the ground-air data link)

e.
Assume that the company’s current
operations are adequately insured. Advise the company on additional insurance
you recommend adding to cover these UAS & their operations, explaining your
reasoning clearly

5.
Close Up Aviation Corp.is a
commercial helicopter operator specializing in providing air support to
Hollywood motion picture and television production companiesusing
specially-trained and highly-experienced flight crews and aircraft equipped
with the latest technology in gyro-stabilized camera mounts for air-to-ground
and air-to-air cinematography. Typically, Close Up furnishes the flight crews
and aircraft, while the production company provides the cameras, along with
on-board cinematographers and related technical personnel. The company will be
providing its services to the producers of a new action thriller, and much of
the flying will involve high-speed maneuvering flight at very low altitudes
over broken terrain, between buildings, under bridges and powerlines and in
very close proximity to actors and camera crews on the ground, vehicles and
other participating aircraft, and amidst explosions and other pyrotechnics.Close
Up is also considering adding appropriate camera-carrying unmanned aircraft
systems (UAS) to its fleet of camera aircraft, and hiring and training crews to
operate them. Some of the more dangerous shots might be accomplished using
those aircraft instead of the manned helicopters. A group of prospective
investors in themovie hires you to review the production company plan of
aviation operations and advise them on risk management concerns. Research and
prepare a paper covering the following:

a.
Determine which individuals and
companies could be deemed to be an “operator” of aircraft (both manned and
unmanned) involved in this project, for FAR compliance purposes.

b.
Identify specific Federal
Aviation Regulations involved and FAA certificates of waiver or authorization
required.

c.
Analyze whether these
operations might be considered an ultrahazardous activity in the eyes of the
law, and the effect of that determination on the level of legal risk Close Up
and the production company will be exposed to in these operations.

d.
Itemize with specificity
insurance coverages that both the production company and Close Up Aviation Corp.
should have in place to cover potential injuries to their respective employees.

e.
Identify and describe with
specificity aircraft insurance (for both the manned & unmanned aircraft) Close
Up should have in place to cover potential aircraft damage, injuries to others,
and damage to the property of others that might result from these operations.

f.
Identify and describe any
additional insurance you consider it prudent for Close Up and the production
company to have in place in case an accident causes injuries and/or damages
that exceed the liability limits of the policies you identified above.

g.
Analyze and identify any legal
risk management tool(s) that might be useful in addition to the foregoing in
these operations.

Aerospace
Companies

6.
Colossal Aerospace Corporation
is developing a new heavy-lift rocket engine to replace the Russian-built RD-180
currently relied on by NASA and byother government agencies for military
applications, and to serve the needs of the burgeoning commercial space
launchmarket. The company anticipates producing the rocket engines for sale to
U.S. and foreign commercial enterprises and governments, incorporating the
engines into a line of launch vehicles it is developing for potential
customers, and also offering launch services to those customers, using its own
launch complex, equipment & crews. You have applied for a project
management position with Colossal and have a job interview scheduled next week
at the company’s Merritt Island, Florida headquarters. Intimate knowledge of
this rapidly-evolving industry will be a crucial factor in the selection
process. To prepare yourself for this interview and for the job, research
prepare a paper covering the following:

a.
Identify the key U.S. statutes
that establish the national policy and legal framework for regulation of
commercial space operations.

b.
Identify each federal agency
and office responsible for regulation of launch vehicle certification, testing,
and operations, describing the specific area of responsibility of each such
entity and clearly distinguishing the roles of each.

c.
Describe federal permits
required for the company to conduct rocket launches for experimental testing
and for commercial purposes at the following two optional locations:

i.
The Cape Canaveral Spaceport

ii.
A launch site to be developed
by the company on Matagorda Island, Texas.

d.
Detail the process to qualify
the launch vehicles to fly NASA and NASA-sponsored unmanned and eventually
manned payloads.

e.
Determine whether the Arms Export
Control Act and related U.S. Munitions List might interfere with the company’s
plans for export sales of these engines and launch vehicles.

f.
Describe legal requirements for
commercial space launch operators to obtain and the commercial availability of:

i.
Third-party liability insurance to cover
injuries to persons and property on the ground or in aircraft that might result
from a launch or recovery mishap

ii.
Launch risk guarantee insurance to cover
failure to deliver the payload to its intended destination or orbit

iii.
Liability insurance to cover injuries to
participants, such as space tourists.

g.
If you find that any of the
above insurance coverages are not yet available on the commercial market, and are
not required by law, identify an alternative approach to management of that
risk.

h.
Identify the federal agency
responsible for investigation and determination of the probable cause of space
vehicle launch- and recovery-related accidents and incidents and operator
notifications and reports required.

i.
Identify any international organization
responsible for establishment of international technical standards for
certification of spacecraft crews and space worthiness of launch vehicles and
manned spacecraft.

Commercial
Spaceflight Operations

7.
Project GoForth is a private endeavor
funded by a cosmically-oriented religious organization to establish a self-sustaining
human colony of its adherents on Mars. In order to expedite the arrival of the
first groups of the organization’s colonists andcontain the initial costs, they
plan to initially rely solely on proven existing technology (a reliable 3-stage
vertical takeoff expendable rocketthat is commercially available off the shelf,
propelling an automatically-operated crew& cargo capsule that will make a
soft landing on Mars using its own cluster of braking rockets). For that
purpose, and to assure that only the most fervent and dedicated believers
undertake the mission, the organization’s bold plan is to make these one-way
trips, with no chance of return to earth. The first arrivals will be
responsible to establish a base of operations, explore the useful resources of
the immediate area, extract water, begin greenhouse-style gardening, and
generally prepare the base to receive the next arrivals. The organization hires
you as a technical consultant on the project. Research and prepare a paper
covering the following:

a.
Identify and describe all certification
requirements that apply to the rocket and spacecraft (capsule) for this
mission.

b.
Identify and describe all
certification requirements that apply to passengers & crew for this
mission.

c.
Identify and describe all
insurance required by law for this mission and determine the current
availability of that insurance in the commercial marketplace.

d.
If you find that any of the
above insurance coverages are not yet available on the commercial market, and
are not required by law, identify an alternative approach to management of that
risk.

e.
The organization plans to eventually
build an extensive mining and refining operation on Mars, using extracted natural
resources to establish a commercial space refueling & resupply station,
envisioning selling fuel, water& oxygen to transient spacecraft to earn
profits for the organization.

i.
Identify all existing
international treaties and their specific provisions that may affect the
legality of this planned commercial operation, discussing all potential legal
questions these raise.

ii.
Analyze whether these existing
treaties are adequate to address this group’s legal property rights to exclude
others from its base, refinery, and the areas of these mining claims and to
profit from the sale of products produced from those natural resources.

iii.
We know from our experiences on
earth that mining can scar the landscape and (along with processing of the
minerals mined) leave behind detritus and conditions that can be harmful and
have long-lasting adverse effects on the environment.On earth, laws have been
enacted and are enforced to prevent and reverse such contamination. Determine
whether any existing law (including treaties) applies to such activities on
Mars.

iv.
If the planned commercial
operation might violate one or more applicable treaties, or if intruders might
infringe on the group’s mining claims and trespass on its facilities, describe
the enforcement mechanism that would address any such violations.