PER-001: Julia Rivera — Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC)

Andi Lamprecht ·2026-05-11· 10 min read· Draft

Draft UERQ-PLANS-58 Operator Application

“Before I even power up, I need to know I have a verified digital green light. Once I’m in the air, the link to the Authority is my lifeline — if they tell me I’m non-compliant, I need to know why and I need to correct it instantly.”

1. Identity

2. Professional Context

Responsibilities

• Plans and executes drone flight missions: infrastructure inspection, topographic mapping, and emergency response aerial support.
• Submits flight authorization requests through the operator application before every mission.
• Monitors authorization status and complies with all conditions and restrictions attached to approved flights.
• Maintains real-time situational awareness during flight: telemetry, airspace status, C2 link health, and weather.
• Responds immediately to authority instructions received during flight, including rescind notifications and preemption conflict notices.

Team & Reporting

• Reports to Fleet Operations Manager (PER-005 persona candidate).
• Works alongside 2–3 other RPICs and 1 Visual Observer per mission.
• Coordinates with ground crew for equipment setup, battery management, and site safety.
• During emergency response operations, receives tactical direction from Incident Commander (fire/police).

Operational Environment

• Primary: Field locations — construction sites, utility corridors, bridge inspections, disaster zones. Operates from a mobile Ground Control Station (GCS) or tablet.
• Secondary: Company office for pre-mission planning, post-mission data upload, and training. Desktop workstation.
• Connectivity: Variable. Urban sites have good cellular; rural utility corridors and disaster zones may have intermittent or no connectivity.
• Weather exposure: Operates outdoors in all seasons; must make go/no-go weather decisions in the field.

Technical Proficiency

• Highly proficient with drone flight control systems, GCS software, and mission planning tools.
• Comfortable with mobile and tablet applications; expects a responsive, map-centric interface.
• Not a software developer; cannot troubleshoot API errors or interpret technical error codes.
• Familiar with LAANC authorization through AirMap/Aloft; expects ATOMx to be at least as fast and intuitive.
• Uses DJI Fly, Litchi, and Pix4Dcapture for mission execution; DroneLogbook for compliance records.

Decision Authority

• Can independently submit flight authorization requests for pre-approved mission types within company-designated operational areas.
• Has final authority on go/no-go decision at the launch site based on local conditions (Part 107.49).
• Can abort a flight at any time for safety reasons without requiring authorization from dispatch or management.
• Cannot approve flights in new operational areas or restricted airspace categories — must request through Fleet Manager.
• Cannot modify company-level ATOMx configuration, user roles, or organizational settings.

Regulatory Context

• Holds FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate (current).
• Company requires TSA background check for all RPICs; Julia is TSA-cleared.
• Must operate NDAA-compliant aircraft per company and client policy.
• Subject to Part 107 operational rules: 400ft AGL ceiling, VLOS (unless waiver), daylight/civil twilight, yield to manned aircraft.
• Must comply with all conditions attached to flight authorizations, including altitude restrictions, time windows, and operational volume boundaries.

3. Goals

Life Goals

• Advance to Lead Pilot or Chief Pilot role within 3 years.
• Earn a reputation as a safe, reliable operator whom authorities trust for complex missions (BVLOS, emergency response).
• Build expertise in emerging operations: urban air mobility support, beyond-visual-line-of-sight corridor flights.

Experience Goals

• Feel confident that she has a verified, unambiguous authorization before every takeoff — the “digital green light.”
• Never be surprised by an authorization change mid-flight without clear, actionable guidance.
• Not feel like she’s fighting the system: the authorization process should be fast enough that it doesn’t delay mission start.
• Trust that the system knows her credentials and won’t ask her to re-prove things she’s already verified.

End Goals

• Submit a flight authorization request and receive a decision within 60 seconds for standard operations.
• Confirm authorization status (approved, conditions, restrictions) on her mobile device at the launch site before powering up the aircraft.
• Receive immediate, unambiguous notification if authorization is rescinded, preempted, or modified during flight.
• Know exactly who needs to approve her flight and what their status is when manual review is required.
• Complete post-flight logging and authorization closure in under 2 minutes.

4. Frustrations & Pain Points

Current Pain Points

• LAANC gives instant approvals for some zones but provides zero transparency on who is actually authorizing or why certain requests go to “Further Coordination” with no timeline.
• No way to know in the field whether her credentials (Part 107, TSA clearance, org affiliation) are current and recognized by the authority system.
• Multiple authorization requests per day across different jurisdictions require re-entering the same operator and aircraft data each time.
• Cannot determine which specific authorities need to approve a multi-jurisdiction flight — the process is a black box.
• Field connectivity issues mean she sometimes cannot confirm authorization status at the launch site, creating a legal gray area on whether she is authorized to fly.

Workarounds

• Screenshots her LAANC approval on her phone as proof-of-authorization because she doesn’t trust connectivity at the site.
• Calls dispatch to verbally confirm authorization status when the app is unresponsive in low-connectivity areas.
• Maintains a personal checklist spreadsheet mapping each mission to required authorizations because the system doesn’t provide a pre-flight compliance summary.
• Submits authorization requests the night before from the office to avoid delays in the field.

Unmet Needs

• Offline-capable authorization confirmation: the ability to cache and display a verified authorization status when connectivity is lost.
• A single pre-flight compliance view showing: authorization status, credential status, aircraft registration status, weather, NOTAMs, and airspace restrictions — all in one screen.
• Clear indication of multi-authority approval chains: who must approve, who has approved, who is pending.
• Automated re-use of operator and aircraft data across requests without re-entry.
• Plain-language error messages when a request is denied, with specific corrective actions.

5. Safety & Operational Context

This section captures safety-relevant aspects of Julia’s operational reality. Each entry traces to at least one system requirement.

Safety-Critical Decisions

• Go/no-go decision at the launch site. Julia must verify that her authorization is valid, current, and unmodified before takeoff. An incorrect or stale authorization display could lead to unauthorized airspace entry. [UERQ-SYS-1434, UERQ-SYS-1425]
• Responding to mid-flight rescind or preemption notification. If the authority rescinds or a higher-priority flight preempts her authorization, Julia must immediately alter her flight or land. Delayed or unclear notification creates collision risk. [UERQ-SYS-1468, UERQ-SYS-1474]
• Abort decision during flight. Based on aircraft telemetry, weather changes, or loss of C2 link, Julia decides whether to continue, return-to-home, or execute contingency landing. The system must provide the data to support this decision. [UERQ-SYS-1425]
• Activation confirmation. Where mandatory activation is enabled, Julia must submit an activation request and receive confirmation before flight operations begin. Proceeding without confirmed activation violates the authorization lifecycle. [UERQ-SYS-1407, UERQ-SYS-1434]

Time Pressure

Information Needs During Stress

Failure Tolerance

• System outage during active flight: Per UERQ-SYS-1531 (US mode), Julia’s previously approved authorization remains valid during an outage. Julia needs clear indication that the system is degraded and that her authorization is still valid. She must not see ambiguous states (e.g., blank screen, spinning loader) that could be interpreted as “authorization revoked.”
• Connectivity loss in the field: Julia must be able to view her cached authorization status offline. The system must clearly indicate when data is stale (timestamp of last sync) vs. actively connected. [UERQ-SYS-1500]
• App crash during flight: Julia falls back to direct communication with dispatch via radio/phone. The system must not require re-authentication and full reload to restore the operational view — session recovery must be fast.

Consequence of Error

Training & Certification

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate (required, held).
• TSA background check (required by company, cleared).
• Company requires 20 hours of ATOMx platform training before solo field operations.
• Annual recurrency on emergency procedures and contingency operations.
• Familiar with aviation terminology, airspace classification, NOTAMs, and standard weather briefing products.
• Expects the system to minimize jargon and provide contextual help for ATOMx-specific concepts (e.g., activation-time re-evaluation, fallback activation).

6. Key Scenarios

Scenarios are documented as individual pages under the Key Scenarios section.

7. System Interaction Profile

Session Pattern

Data Volume

• Submits 2–5 flight authorization requests per day.
• Manages 1–3 active/activated flights per day.
• Needs access to 30 days of personal flight history for compliance logging.
• Real-time data: live authorization status, aircraft telemetry display, airspace status overlay.

Notification Needs

Collaboration Needs

• Receives operational instructions from Fleet Manager through the system (flight assignments, schedule changes).
• Does NOT interact with authorities directly through the system: denial reasons are concealed per UERQ-SYS-1509.
• May need to share authorization status with Visual Observers or ground crew (read-only share or screen display).
• During emergency response: needs shared situational awareness with other RPICs operating in the same area.

8. Traceability

9. Revision History