Module 5: Team-Based Human Factors Challenges

Human Factors in aviation involve the humans physical and mental ability to perform when operating aviation equipment. Some common factors that are taken into consideration is communication, fatigue, knowledge, mental state, physical limitations, and many more. (Weiner & Nagel, 1988) Furthermore, human factors can vary depending on the person. The way one individual may retain information or react in a certain situation is not the way another person will react in a similar situation.

I would like to focus on a personal team based event that I was involved in from the years 2013-2016. I work at the 81st Range Control Squadron (RCS) at Tyndall AFB, Fl.  At the 81st RCS, we conducted hundreds of Weapon System Evaluation Program (WSEP) exercises every year that dealt with the live firing of air-to-air missiles. There were five positions that were involved in this exercise: The Interface Control Technician (ICT), Live Technician (LT), Drone Coordinator (DC), Weapons Director (WD), and Mission Director (MD). Each position was responsible for its specific portion of the mission and required flawless coordination between the crew and participants (i.e. Pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC)).

The human factors that I would like to focus on is fatigue, communication, and experience. During WSEPs, there are times when exercises were conducted as early as 0400 and last four to five hours in duration. Depending on personal situations, sometimes crew members would be tired and lack the attention to detail needed for the duration of the exercise. Furthermore, there would be situations where we would train new Airmen on the crew positions during the live fire events. These new members would like the experience and knowledge of some of the senior members in the squadron. These new Airman would some times not communicate necessary calls to the WDs or not pass information to the pilots or ATC causing there to be confusion.

(Actual image from the 81 RCS Operations Floor)

Rather than mechanical malfunctions, human factors can be the root cause of many of the aviation incidents that occur. According to Wiegmann and Shappell (2001), human error is responsible for 70-80% of all civil and military aviation incidents. in saying that, companies and airlines have looked into ways at reducing the negative effects of human factors rather than focusing on the mechanical issues. The only issue with reducing human factor errors is, the post analysis reports not taking into account the human error.

References

Wiegmann, D. A., & Shappell, S. A. (2001). A Human Error Analysis of Commercial Aviation Accidents Using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). Springfeild: National Technical Information Service.

Wiener, E. L., & Nagel, D. C. (1988). Human Factors in Aviation (2nd ed.). (E. Salas, & D. Maurino, Eds.) Gulf Professional Publishing. Retrieved from https://books.google.de/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Fi2Bqh_6fW4C&oi=fnd&pg=PT1&dq=human+factors+in+aviation&ots=wMPh4MtuuB&sig=bmiNSHOtqq_iylEIv7_Gs8GjaNE#v=onepage&q=human%20factors%20in%20aviation&f=false