Pilot Error and Aircraft Accidents

Human error may take many forms, from gross displays of bad airmanship to unconscious errors which can be attributed to fatigue or to unconscious perceptual errors. When human error is identified as the primary or contributory cause of an accident, our principal concern is not to fix blame, but to identify corrective actions which can be taken in training or procedures to reduce the likelihood of similar accidents in the future.

Broadly, human-error accidents can be divided into three categories. One, reckless or careless flying, allows little scope for direct preventive action; we can tighten up on licensing practices, but some people are always going to do careless things in the air, even though they know better (Slepyan 10-12). Since a major fraction of all accidents are midair collisions, however, we can develop our understanding of "defensive flying" practices, by which pilots can guard themselves against collisions due

. . .
pposition to the airline accountants concern for productivity (Hurst 187-91). Crew fatigue does not so much "cause" accidents as it sharply raises pilot susceptibility to accident-causing errors of judgement. One we have already mentioned is "set," or the tendency to expect what we have been conditioned to expect (Beaty 107). A pilot was told by a tower that there was no local traffic; he was thus less concerned about keeping his eyes outside the cockpit, and had a midair collision. "Set" can be particularly dangerous when a pilot is poised for a particular action, and a stimulus incorrectly triggers that action. In one instance, an airliner copilot had a too-eager hand on the landing-gear lever. The pilot noticed this, and called out "not yet!" The copilot expected the next words to be "gear up," and when the pilot called up he at once actuated the lever (Beaty 108). Closely related to "set" is psychological motivation and arousal level. If conditions are too easy, we tend to daydream; if they become too difficult, we may panic. As noted earlier, "too difficult" is a common cause of pilot errors (Hurst vii). The trend towards increasing cockpit automation however, raises the risks of complacency, or "too easy." I
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Pilot Error, Hurst Hurst, Lockheed L-1011, Sand Stars, pilot error, YorkStein Day, Lockwood Staples, London Collins, human error, error accidents, flight deck, York Macmillan, Hurst Ronald, onto runway takeoff, human factor, ergonomic errors, onto runway, runway takeoff, hurst ronald, accidents attributed, pilot error accidents,
Approximate Word count = 1275
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Pilot Error and Aircraft Accidents