Human Factors in Aircraft Accidents: a Holistic Approach to Intervention Strategies

Human error has been implicated in almost 70-80% of civil and military aviation accidents. It appears that attempts to understand human factors in aircraft accidents and apply remedial strategies have been made in isolation in addressing a particular link in the whole process of aircraft accident prevention. The suggested holistic approach to minimize aircraft accidents, aims to provide a composite and macroscopic view of the activities within the aviation environment that can be targeted to produce the desired results. It also provides a microscopic look at possible domains within each link. Targeting one particular aspect or link in the entire process may or may not influence the other components in the loop. Such an approach would address the experience and certainty of safety investigators with regards to contribution of human factors in aircraft accidents and the understanding of temporal relation between various human factors at one end to issues of intervention strategies based on sound human factors principles and a follow up evaluation of the impact of these intervention strategies on the other end. The influence of safety culture in integrating the diverse components of the accident prevention program is highlighted.