Human Factors in Aviation Safety

Human Factors in Aviation Safety

Flying is by far the safest method of transportation, but there are still risks. Many of the problems that occur in aviation are related to the human factor. People can make mistakes, and when they do they can end up damaging aircraft and endangering lives. It is important to explore the various issues that relate to human factors in aviation safety, so that one can determine how best to reduce the risk. Doing so can save lives and lower the overall cost of operations for airlines and other companies that work in the aviation field. Sleep deprivation is one of the most human factor concerns when it comes to safest in aviation, but there are also others that have to be addressed.

People who fly and those who work in the aviation field and want to understand more about how aircraft accidents happen generally study the accidents that occur in an effort to determine what ultimately led to the crash or other mishap (Human, 2011). Not all aviation safety issues result in crashes, but a large number of them have a crash or other significant event as their ultimate conclusion. In a significant number of cases, the fatigue of the pilot and the crew is found to be the cause of the safety problem. These crews and pilots often work very long hours, and sometimes those long hours catch up with them (Berliner, 1996). They make mistakes that they would not have made had they been fully rested, and those kinds of mistakes can cost their employers both money and reputation. The mistakes can also cost passengers their lives if the safety error is a significant one.

As examples of the kinds of problems that are encountered when pilots and crew are fatigued and not thinking properly, consider the following pieces of information that have been collected from past flights that have taken place all around the world (Human, 2011). Most of these are relatively recent, and they showcase the kinds of issues that pilots and crews are facing when they become overly tired and cannot execute their job duties correctly.

An Air China jet crew disengaged the autopilot by mistake. They failed to realize it at the time, and the place fell for five miles before the crew discovered the problem. The plane landed safely, but the stress and fear experienced by the passengers was certainly noticeable. That was a clear example of human error, as it was not caused by a weather condition or a malfunction of any of the plane's systems.

In Los Angeles, California, there was a commuter plane sitting on a runway. It had been cleared for takeoff when a controller error caused an airliner to actually land on top of the commuter plane. This was something that should never have happened, but fatigue, lack of attention, and lack of communication can cause serious problems with crews in the airplanes and crews on the ground.

An Eastern Airlines jet crew placed their plane on autopilot so they could spend time figuring out why a light for the landing gear did not come on properly. That would normally not be an issue, but the autopilot was disengaged accidentally and the pilots were not paying attention. They did not realize what had taken place until it was too late and the plane ultimately crashed in the Florida Everglades.

There are many ways to argue about what really caused these incidents, but the research into them indicates that people were overly tired when the events took place. Had the crew members been more well-rested, they might have been less likely to cause any harm to others or to fail to realize what had gone wrong (Human, 2011). Quick thinking is vital in aviation, whether one is on the ground or flying the plane, and that quick thinking is not something that is seen when people are too tired or when they are distracted by other issues. If they are able to focus on the task at hand, there are fewer issues with safety and there are also fewer chances for people to become injured or lose their lives.

One argument indicates that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has created rules that actually make the fatigue problems worse and more difficult to address (Berliner, 1996). Instructions are very specific as to how long a pilot and crew is able to fly during any 24-hour period. The rules also state how long the pilot and crew members must rest after than finish a flight and before they are able to fly again (Welcome, 2005). That would seem like a good idea, but there is a catch. These rules only apply to a crew and a pilot that are flying a plane carrying passengers. If the pilot and crew are flying an empty plane from one place to another, they do not fall under the guidelines - meaning they could then turn around and fly a plane full of passengers with no rest and no matter how many hours (with an empty plane) they have already flown within the last 24 hours (Welcome, 2005). That is a serious concern that many passengers are not even aware of, as they do not know about the loopholes in the FAA rules.

Overall, whether there are passengers on the plane should not be the issue. The same amount of piloting skill is needed to fly an empty plane as is needed to fly a plane that is full of passengers, so the rules should be the same regardless of the passenger load (Welcome, 2005). The FAA has not seen this, apparently, because they have not addressed that issue with the rules and the loophole that can allow pilots and crews to fly much more than they would allegedly be allowed to if they were flying passengers on every flight. This can and should be addressed, but so far there have not been any official, formal challenges to the rules (Welcome, 2005). Because of that, pilots and crews are often overworked and very tired when they get in the air with a plane full of passengers, because they have been flying with an empty plane for a large number of hours and have not had the rest that they need.

Even though it is the FAA that makes the rules, a large amount of the responsibility for controlling pilot and crew fatigue to reduce human error actually falls to the specific airlines (Welcome, 2005). It is easy for pilots and their flight crews to circumvent the FAA rules pertaining to how long they can fly in a 24-hour period or how long they must rest between flights. They do this by flying empty planes to airports where they are needed by other pilots and passengers. This is a vital and potentially deadly issue, and airlines should address it carefully. Aviation companies have to be made aware of the kinds of consequences that can come about from pilot and crew fatigue, so that these companies can make better decisions about the flight schedules of their pilots and crew members (Dirty, 2011).

When airlines are able to locate better ways to keep their schedules full and their pilots and crews well-rested, they will have fewer chances of being involved in life-changing and potentially life-ending accidents (Dirty, 2011). One of the largest and most complex parts of this issue comes from the fact that it is very hard to gauge how tired a person actually is. How much fatigue that they have in their mind or body can be difficult to judge - and if a pilot or crew members says he or she is fine, and he or she does not appear tired, how can the airline make the determination as to whether that person is all right to fly? Some people operate better when they are tired than other people, and no two are the same (Harris & Muir, 2005).

No actual, official tests show how tired a person really is. Reaction time and memory can be tested, of course, but that is no guarantee - again, because all people are different from one another. Because there are ways to get around the FAA rules, and because there are no specific tests that can be used to determine with real accuracy how tired a person is at any given time, the airlines must set and implement their own rules that help keep pilots and crews from flying when they are overly tired and fatigued (Dirty, 2011). Airlines that do this are setting themselves up for a good safety record as it pertains to pilot error and other human error types of aviation mishaps. Many of these can be easily avoided.

Large commercial airliners are surprisingly easy to fly with the proper training (Human, 2009). Taking off and landing require more skill, but the planes are generally flown on autopilot for the largest segment of the trip. That is especially helpful in some ways, but it can also be highly detrimental because pilots and crew members get complacent. They just assume that the autopilot will take care of flying the plane, and their skills get rusty with lack of use. Then, if something goes wrong with the autopilot system the pilot and his or her crew members may not know what to do and they may not react as quickly as they need to in order to protect the passengers and the rest of the crew members from serious harm (Human, 2009).

The majority of people need to sleep approximately eight hours each night. If they do not get that level of sleep, they can be overly tired and that can cause them to make more mistakes than they otherwise would (Human, 2009). However, someone who has gotten eight hours of sleep is not necessarily caught up on his or her sleep. The quality of sleep the person has gotten and how tired he or she was before the sleep cycle occurred can also affect whether a person is rested after eight hours of sleep (Human, 2009). Some people need a little bit more sleep, and other people can function just fine on a bit less, but if a person is getting under six or seven hours of sleep consistently, he or she may not be a good choice to fly an airplane or be part of that airplane's crew until the sleep deficit is erased.

People who sleep very lightly and wake up easily and often may sleep nine or ten hours per night and still not feel as though they are rested. People who sleep well and solidly might be fine after seven hours. The lack of sleep that plagues flight crews and pilots generally comes not only from the hectic work schedule that they have but from the stress that they feel while they are on the job. Mental stress and strain weighs heavy on pilots and flight crews because they are responsible for so many people's lives (Human, 2009). Flying at night can also be highly stressful, as can the frequent changing of time zones. Some people feel that only physically demanding jobs cause fatigue, but mental stress and strain can be just as tiring, if not more so, when there is a lot of responsibility at stake.

What does this mean to the aviation industry and to the people who fly frequently? It means that the flight schedules and rest times may need to be changed for pilots and flight crews. There is some leeway expected, of course, because tired stewardesses are not as dangerous as tired pilots (Human, 2011). All members of the flight crew should have the option to be well-rested and ready for their shifts, but pilots have the most responsibility and the most difficult jobs. It simply stands to reason that there would be less human error in aviation if there were fewer overly-tired pilots handling large aircraft on a low amount of sleep and a high amount of stress. Pilots and crews often fly together regularly, so if the stewardesses and other flight crew members are tired, it is a relatively safe assumption that the pilot is also tired (Human, 2009). That is something to consider when it comes to aviation safety.

Even when it is clear that the pilots are tired and changes need to be made, it is not possible to fix things overnight. Some universities, though, are interested in looking for ways to correct the pilot and crew fatigue issues. In 1997, for example, Embry-Riddle University released a statement saying that they were going to offer two new degrees that would help to enhance the ideas behind human performance (Harris & Muir, 2005). That would help to make flying safer for everyone who is involved with it. Of course, not all universities are doing that sort of thing, and getting a degree from a university will not necessarily help someone correct every sleep-deprivation problem in the airline industry. Still, changes need to be made and it is very encouraging to see people realizing that and finding ways to attempt to make it better (Portal, 2011). As more of that takes place, air traffic will get safer.

One of the issues that Embry-Riddle addressed in their press release was that there may actually be a larger chance for accidents to take place if the plane is easy to fly. That sounds odd, of course, but autopilot and monitoring by computer means that the large majority of the time that the pilot co-pilot are "flying" the plane, they are actually just allowing the autopilot to do the work (Portal, 2011). Pilots can get bored and unhappy when they are really not allowed to do a large segment of the job that they were trained for, and when they are bored and unhappy they are not paying attention to the needs of their passengers and their aircraft. Complacency can be a serious issue for pilots, and the more complacency that is seen with pilots the less they will be able to do if the plane actually experiences a problem (Portal, 2011).