Aeromedical & Human Factors
Aeromedical and human factors concern the interaction between people, machines, and the environment to improve performance and reduce errors.
Introduction
- The human body is the most critical system on any manned aircraft.
- An array of external factors, including pressure, oxygen, and chemicals, influences the body, and various means can incapacitate or degrade it.
- For these reasons, pilots must be both medically qualified and fit to fly.
- People are never perfect, and those human factors pose hazards to flight that pilots must mitigate.
Aeromedical Conditions
- Aeromedical factors concern the body with the various external conditions and forces imposed upon it.
- These factors become increasingly more critical as you find yourself in the instrument meteorological environment.
- Protecting yourself from these factors requires a working knowledge of how your body is affected in the aviation environment.
- Carbon monoxide is an ever-present, colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas in the aviation environment, posing a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning to pilots and passengers.
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Hyperventilation:
- Hyperventilation results from a significant decrease in carbon dioxide content (CO2) in the blood that, left untreated, can result in incapacitation.
- You can make the symptoms of hyperventilation subside within a few minutes by consciously bringing your rate and depth of breathing back under control.
- In some instances, however, its effects can be debilitating.
- Prevention and proper awareness are key as a first-line defense against hyperventilation.
- Hypoxia.
- Sinus Block.
- The vestibular system is the primary element that orients people in their environment.
- Under certain conditions, disturbing the vestibular system can produce spatial disorientation, as the sensory data mismatches with reality, causing confusion and the potential for unusual attitudes.
- Dehydration and Nutrition.
- Motion Sickness.
- SCUBA Diving Hazards.
- The body's sensory organs in three areas maintain your orientation to your surroundings:
- Visual, meaning what you see.
- Vestibular, meaning what your body (inner ear) senses.
- Postural, meaning what you feel.
- Failure to correctly interpret those senses can result in disorientation.
Human Factors
- Why are human conditions, such as fatigue, complacency, and stress, so important in aviation? These conditions, along with many others, are collectively referred to as human factors.
- Human factors concern the interaction between people, machines, and the environment to improve performance and reduce errors.
- Despite all the technological advancements aimed at improving flight safety, one factor remains constant: the human factor, which often leads to errors.
- Roughly 80% of all aviation accidents are related to human factors, and the vast majority of these accidents occur during landing (24.1%) and takeoff (23.4%) [Figure 1 ].
- Typically, human factor incidents/accidents are associated with flight operations, but they also apply to aviation maintenance and air traffic management.
- These human errors make learning and understanding effective Aeronautical Decision-Making skills critically important.
- For this reason, over the past several years, the FAA has made the study and research of human factors a top priority by working closely with engineers, pilots, mechanics, and ATC to apply the latest knowledge about human factors in an effort to help operators and maintainers improve safety and efficiency in their daily operations.
- Understanding ADM also means recognizing how personal attitudes influence decision-making and learning how to modify those attitudes to enhance safety in the flight deck.
- You must understand the factors that influence human decision-making, how the process operates, and how effective Risk Management can enhance it.
- Human factors are a noteworthy topic.
- Human factors science, also known as human factors technologies, is a multidisciplinary field that incorporates contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research, and anthropometry.
- It is a term that covers the science of understanding the properties of human capability, the application of this understanding to the design, development, and deployment of systems and services, and the art of ensuring the successful application of human factor principles into all aspects of aviation, including pilots, ATC, and aviation maintenance.
- Human factors is often considered synonymous with Crew Resource Management (CRM) or Maintenance Resource Management (MRM), but is actually much broader in both its knowledge base and scope.
- Human factors involves gathering research specific to certain situations (i.e., flight, maintenance, stress levels, knowledge) about human abilities, limitations, and other characteristics and applying it to tool design, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments to produce safe, comfortable, and effective human use.
Human Behavior:
- Historically, the term "pilot error" has been used to describe an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident. This definition also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper action. From a broader perspective, the phrase "human factors related" more aptly describes these accidents. A single decision or event does not necessarily lead to an accident. Still, a series of events and the resultant decisions together form a chain of events that leads to an outcome.
- While most pilots have made mistakes, they likely caught these errors before a mishap thanks to an extra margin, effective warning systems, a sharp copilot, or simply good luck.
- The successful pilot concentrates, manages workloads, monitors, and performs several tasks simultaneously. Some of the latest psychological screenings in aviation test applicants on their multitasking ability, measuring both accuracy and their capacity to focus on multiple subjects simultaneously. The FAA conducted an extensive research study comparing accident-free pilots with those involved in accidents-the project surveyed over 4,000 pilots, half of whom had "clean" records and the other half had accident histories.
- Researchers discovered five traits in pilots prone to having accidents:
- Have disdain toward rules.
- Have a very high correlation between accidents on their flying records and safety violations on their driving records.
- Frequently fall into the "thrill and adventure seeking" personality category.
- They act impulsively rather than methodically and with discipline, both in gathering information and in choosing and executing actions.
- Have a disregard for or tend to underutilize outside sources of information, including copilots, flight attendants, flight service personnel, flight instructors, and ATC.
- Historically, the term "pilot error" has been used to describe an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident. This definition also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper action. From a broader perspective, the phrase "human factors related" more aptly describes these accidents. A single decision or event does not necessarily lead to an accident. Still, a series of events and the resultant decisions together form a chain of events that leads to an outcome.
Fitness for Flight
- Taken together, aeromedical and human factors help assess their health and determine their fitness for flight.
- Pilots must be physically qualified to fly in accordance with their certificate or rating.
- An Aeromedical Evaluator determines if you qualify for a Medical Certificate.
- A medical certificate is not enough, however.
- Pilots must be able to determine their fitness for flight daily.
Aeromedical & Human Factors Conclusion
- Once the pilot enters the airplane, the ability to function is essential to safe flight.
- Ignorance of and indifference to the physical demands of flight can be as senseless as the lack of concern for an airplane's structural integrity.
- It is the pilot's responsibility to consider their personal health status and to be informed about aeromedical facts.
- The entire aviation community benefits greatly from human factors research and development, as it helps to better understand how humans can perform their jobs safely and efficiently, and to improve the tools and systems in which they interact.
- The FAA publishes videos on human factors awareness as well as training courses.
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