Human Error

Let’s face it, airplanes don’t crash on their own. Most of the time, they don't crash for mechanical reasons either. Majority of aircraft crashes are a result of some type of human error. Human error can be categorized into five different sections.

• Error of Omission- An action not performed when required (i.e. gear up landing)
• Error of Commission- An action performed when not required (i.e. flap deployment in flight)
• Error of Submission- An action performed incorrectly (i.e. Shutting down the wrong engine)
• Actions performed out of sequence
• Actions performed to late

Methods to control the amount of human error have come a long way. Along with all of aviation safety, it has been because of accidents that they have advanced. There are two basic ways to limit the amount of human error, Engineering and Administrative.

Engineering strategies try to develop a way of constructing aircraft, such as the cockpit, to limit the exposure to possible errors. One example of this is not placing the gear handle near the flap handle and making the gear handle look like a wheel.

Administrative strategies offer solution through the use of policies and procedures. Creating checklist is one example of limiting the exposure to errors.

All in all, human error has been greatly limited through the use of these techniques. However, humans will be humans and as long as we are in the cockpit, there will be errors.

Wells, Alexander, & Rodrigues, Clarence. (2003). Commercial aviation safety. McGraw-Hill Professional.