The purpose of this research is to examine the human factor in aviation and the degree to which pilot error is the cause of airplane accidents. This will require a brief discussion of the available facts and statistics on air travel as well as a review of the reasons why this happens, even among seasoned pilots, and why the numbers are growing.
The modern airliner is a marvel of technology, as safe as man can make it. The statistics convincingly point to the safety of flying over other means of transportation. "In 1978, U.S. airlines completed 99.99991 percent of their flights without a fatality (Norris 11). In 1979 around 800 million passengers travelled by air around the world, and only 1,267 of them (plus 149 crew members) were killed, making the odds about 565.000 to 1 (Norris 11). These figures have remained relatively constant, though 1980 and 1986 saw no fatal accidents in the United States. The role of the pilot error in these numbers, however, is significant.
Since 1984, the National Transportation Board (NTSB) has counted 183 U.S. airliner accidents, of which 97 were caused at least in part by pilot error. "A study by Boeing laid sixty-five percent of all airliner accidents from 1959 to 1986 to flight-crew mistakes ("High" 8). 1987 was the worst year for accidents since 1974. There were 31 of them, and 231 people died in four fatal crashes (Stockton 40). Meanwhile, the volume of domestic airline passengers has risen steadily from 240 million in 1977 to nearly 500 million in 1987, and the cause of fatal crashes worldwide is increasingly attributed to pilot error (Stockton 66). The FAA now believes that sixty to eighty percent of all accidents are due, at least partially, to "human factors."
Pilot error can be defined as any decision made by members of the cockpit crew in response to a situation, either mechanical, weather-induced or man-induced, which results in a potential accident or actual crash of t...