Custom essays on Aviation Safety and the Human Element

In-depth studies of the human element as the cause of most horrific air disasters with hundreds of casualties still do not give unambiguous and precise answers. There are no answers and explanations of behavioral motives of pilots in the tragic moments preceding the accident.
On the sidelines of the Geneva conference the information appeared, which contains a direct reference to the fact that the impasse in the further development of the aviation industry in the most aviation century is real (Masys, 2004). The culprit is the human element. American physicians, studying the influence of speed on the human psyche for many years, came to the unprecedented conclusion: the speed is the most dangerous enemy of man. Speed, according to doctors, affects the human at the cellular level and destroys his sense of time. If so, then even at cruising speed of a plane the fractions of a second in which the pilot may have time to make the right decision, to correct a deadly situation, as a rule, do not leave him a chance. His actions are inadequate to the seconds. He appears in a distorted, virtual time (Harris & Muir, 2005).
So, it is clear that the relationship of psyche of the pilot and the concept of “human element” is inseparable. Perhaps it is not even a relationship, but the unity of essences.
In some countries this issue is recognized as one of the most significant in aviation security. The largest companies-manufacturers of aircraft, today, create the special groups, which study the influence of human element in aviation. The goal set before such group is the creation of an aircraft cockpit, the design of which would allow the crew to carry out their tasks with minimal psychological stress (Harris & Muir, 2005).
The job of a pilot, involving a significant nervous tension, is itself a subtle indicator of neuro-psychic sphere. Paradoxical as it sounds, overcoming the critical situation with a deficit of information is associated with informational overload. The degree of overload is reinforced, firstly, by the fact that in most critical situations people have to solve several problems simultaneously and secondly, to overcome the situation is given a hard time limit, which suggests the intensity of information processing (Sarter, 2008).
According to available statistics of the flight accidents, a sampling of 441 cases of mistakes of the crew was made. The investigation analyzed the factors of accidents in accordance with the above aspects. As a result, it was revealed that the predominant factors in the “mistakes of the crew” are the level of professional training and psychological characteristics of the crew. Safety in general, as the problem of “human element” in particular, is a category system which is impossible to solve by private actions (Masys, 2004).
Thus, we can make a conclusion that absence of accidents in flight operations can be due to the optimum ratio between the requirements of aviation equipment and capabilities of man. Consequently, the problem of safety can be successfully resolved only when the relationship between man and technology is taken into account. The possibilities of human adaptation to a variety of factors of flight operation is not limitless, and therefore the leading direction in the ensuring of aviation safety is the further technical progress of aviation in the light of psycho-physiological capabilities of man. The ideal prevention of flight accidents is the creation of such aircraft, which would exclude the possibility of erroneous actions of the pilot (Langan-Fox, Sankey, & Canty, 2009).

References
Harris D & Muir HC. (2005). Contemporary Issues In Human Factors And Aviation Safety. Ashgate Publishing.
Langan-Fox J, Sankey MJ, & Canty JM. (2009). “Human Factors Measurement for Future Air Traffic Control Systems” The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 51(5): 595-637.
Masys A.J. (2004). “Aviation Accident Aetiology: Catastrophe Theory Perspective” Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 13(1): 33-38.
Sarter N. (2008). “Investigating Mode Errors on Automated Flight Decks: Illustrating the Problem-Driven, Cumulative, and Interdisciplinary Nature of Human Factors Research” The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 50(3): 506-510.
Stolzer AJ, Halford CD, & Goglia JJ. (2010). Safety Management Systems in Aviation (Ashgate Studies in Human Factors for Flight Operations). Ashgate.