Landing-Zone and Drop-Zone criteria

Abstract

The criteria for landing zones (LZs) and drop zones (DZs), also known as austere entry surfaces, are extensive and varied. They range from very specific guidance on required geometry to more general guidance on required bearing strength of unprepared surfaces, such as soil or ice, and the smoothness of those surfaces. Current practice for siting LZs and DZs includes site surveys by trained personnel, often in hostile environments. Additionally, with the continued advancement of image analysis, it may be possible to identify potential LZ and DZ sites remotely and thus to reduce the need to expose personnel to dangerous conditions. This review intends to summarize existing Federal, Department of Defense, and other criteria for unsurfaced, unimproved LZs and DZs. The purpose of the summary is to consolidate criteria so that the criteria may be considered in the process of developing and refining methods to remotely locate and assess potential LZs and DZs by using satellite imagery.

Automated detection of austere entry landing zones: A “GRAIL Tools” validation assessment

“…Additional studies could consider the addition of criteria for entry and exit pathways (Wieder & Shoop, ). The two‐dimensional maps generated using GRAIL Tools do not currently provide information about vegetation/infrastructure height directly adjacent to the potential LZ, and particularly in the aircraft flight paths.…”

Terrestrial Geospatial Remote Assessment for Ingress Locations (Terrestrial GRAIL)

“…Applicable LZ/DZ geometric criteria from DoD, Federal, and other agencies (Wieder and Shoop 2017a) are applied in GRAIL Tools based on userspecific mission aircraft requirements. Field studies supplied ground truth data with regard to land use, soil strength, and linear and repetitive obstacle to train algorithms and to better refine these prediction capabilities.…”

“…GRAIL Tools currently includes criteria for the C-17 and C-130, the two fixed-wing aircraft currently used on unpaved landing strips. The LZ geometric criteria for these aircraft were taken from applicable military and civilian guidance (Wieder and Shoop 2017a).…”

“…For DZs, a circular area is used, making the search much simpler. Figure 14 shows suitable DZs based on the size requirement of 15.2 m and 45.4 m (50 ft and 150 ft) radius zones (Wieder and Shoop 2017a). The raster cell size for this image is 2 m (6.5 ft).…”

Incorporating terrain roughness into helicopter landing zone site selection by using the Geomorphic Oscillation Assessment Tool (GOAT) v1.0

“…Also, UH-60 aircraft (i.e., Black Hawk front-line utility helicopters) and CH-47 aircraft (i.e., Chinook tandem-rotor, heavy-lift helicopters) should land at least 30 m * and 35 m from obstructions, respectively. For a comprehensive aggregation of technical doctrine on landing zones, refer toWieder and Shoop (2017).…”