This accident has become a popular favourite as a case study on the main theme of automation, but there are a host of other human factors in including culture, crashworthiness, survivability and emergency response that make it a good choice for an in depth case study. There is plenty of material out there for trainers and interested parties as well as the thorough final report from the NTSB. We link you to some key resources below…
Written by Alex P
What is cultural competency?Just mentioning the word culture seems often to be met with a glazing over of eyes. I learned that discussing ‘cultural capability’ in the military was unfashionable, uncool, and frankly unmilitary: making the case for so called ‘soft’ skills doesn’t sit well with the hard and pointy image of waging warfare. I have a sense that the same is true in the world of aviation, which is ironic given the uniquely international nature of the industry. Defining culture Culture is like a river: its characteristics are constantly changing. Some quickly and some more slowly.
Written by Alex P
This seminal study by Dismukes and Berman (2010) from NASA looks at the role of checklists and monitoring as two essential defences against equipment failures and pilot errors. Problems with checklist use and pilots’ failures to monitor adequately have a long history in aviation accidents. A short summary of the key recommendations is given here.
Written by Alex P
This award-winning paper examined details from over 2000 incident reports from commercial airlines. The premise of the paper is that we could be doing more to learn from the incidents we are (and aren’t) reporting on! In a short summary we look at some of the key lessons from the paper.
Written by Alex P
Zoom! by Istvan Banyai is a wordless picture book which presents a series of images of a scene, each one from progressively farther away, showing, for example, a boat which becomes the image on a magazine, which is held in a hand, which belongs to a boy, and so on. The aim of this team activity is to get the team to piece together the images in the correct order by deducing the theme of a series of frames zooming continuously out.
Written by Alex P
We link you here to the the ASRS Database Online, the world’s largest repository of voluntary, confidential safety information provided by aviation’s frontline personnel, including pilots, controllers, mechanics, flight attendants, and dispatchers. The database provides a foundation for specific products and subsequent research addressing a variety of aviation safety issues.
Written by Alex P
This summary of the HFACS from Skybrary introduces the reader to the basic principles of one of the most well-known and widely used human factors tools in aviation and accident investigation.The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) was developed by Dr Scott Shappell and Dr Doug Wiegmann and is heavily based upon James Reason’s Swiss cheese model. The HFACS framework provides a tool to assist in the investigation process and target training and prevention efforts.
Written by Alex P
Sleep inertia is the period of impaired performance and grogginess experienced after waking. This period of impairment is of concern to workers who are on-call, or nap during work hours, and need to perform safety-critical tasks soon after waking. While several studies have investigated the best sleep timing and length to minimise sleep inertia effects, few have focused on countermeasures -especially those that can be implemented after waking (i.e. reactive countermeasures). This structured review summarises current literature on reactive countermeasures to sleep inertia such as caffeine, light, and temperature and discusses evidence for the effectiveness and operational viability of each approach.
Written by Alex P
Having a sterile cockpit rule isn’t just about quieting down the cockpit: It’s about enhancing focus and ensuring safety during critical flight phases. It aims to reduce distractions and maintain clear, relevant communication when it really matters. The team at Pilotswhoaskwhy examine the sterile cockpit concept.
Written by Alex P
The essence of the perceptual process is that it combines existing knowledge
with incoming stimuli and the current situation, in order to create meaning
from what is being sensed. In other words the brain takes a very quick ‘best
guess’ as to what the stimuli represent based on what it has learned about
previous stimuli in similar conditions.
Written by Alex P
