Risk Assessment on Flight Test of High Altitude Paratroopers Airdrop Missions

This paper presents a comprehensive risk assessment for a flight test aimed at validating a new cargo aircraft for high-altitude paratrooper airdrop missions. These operations, conducted at altitudes ranging between 35,000 and 40,000 feet, expose crew and paratroopers to extreme environmental conditions, such as hypoxia, decompression sickness, barotrauma, and frostbite. The study begins with a theoretical introduction to the physiological challenges posed by high-altitude, unpressurized flight. It then details the principles of risk assessment using a risk matrix and explores the application of fuzzy inference to refine the evaluation process. The assessment identified eight key risk factors, categorized by probability and severity, and quantified the risks through fuzzy logic and defuzzification. Mitigation strategies were proposed, including phased testing, medical support, enhanced safety equipment, and hypoxia recognition training. These measures effectively reduced the overall risk level from high to medium, ensuring safer conditions for flight operations. The analysis highlights the importance of combining quantitative and qualitative methods to reduce subjectivity in risk assessments. Future studies will validate the proposed mitigation measures and expand the framework to include cargo drops in similar conditions.

Keywords: High-altitude flight, Risk assessment, Fuzzy inference, Paratrooper airdrop, Flight test, Aerospace medicine.