Which term describes UAS operations and flight without humans monitoring or being in control of the aircraft?

• A. In the loop
• B. Autonomous
• C. Manual
• D. Out of the loop

Answer: (D)

Understanding how a flight is controlled helps explain this term. When no person is watching the aircraft or in control during the mission, the system is operating without a human in the control loop. That setup relies on pre-programmed instructions or autonomous decision-making to fly and complete tasks, without real-time human input.

This differs from manual control, where a person directly operates the aircraft, and from being “in the loop,” where a human is monitoring and ready to intervene. “Autonomous” describes the capability to operate without human input, but it doesn’t by itself specify that there’s no monitoring during the flight. The description that matches “no human monitoring or control” is thus out of the loop.