Human error in flight operations : risk reduction strategies : individual, team and systemicperspectives
Doctoral thesis
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Date
2003Metadata
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- Institutt for psykologi [3262]
Abstract
The main assumption in the present thesis is that the special nature of flying, i.e., managing the human and material resources in a complicated environment, often within a limited time span, makes information processing the most critical factor for team function. Cockpit crews have to perform their work in complex operational environments equipped with sophisticated technological systems. A large amount of information often has to be processed in a short period of time.
When trying to understand the behavior and performance of crew members during an operation, it is impotant to pay carefull attention to the team's functioning, rather than only to the behavior of individual team members.
The aim of this thesis was to expand the process theory approach of Bales (1950), when studying human error in aviation, by including the team as a whole and the organizational context.
Dominant factors finfluencing the team function, such as the cockpit technology, have not been analysed in the thesis. The high-tech flight deck that is delivered by the large aircraft manufacturers is more or less standardized, and it is not under the direct control of pilots, airline management or aviation authorities.