Aviation Management: Human Factors and Accidents

AVIATION MANAGEMENT
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Introduction
Why are factors like stress and fatigue so important in the aviation industry? These two factors
together with the others that have not been mentioned are commonly referred to as the human
factors. The factors of human are attributed to the majority of the accidents that take place in the
aviation industry. In general, at least 80% of aviation industry accidents are caused by human
factors. The research work has indicated that over 20% of this particular percentage results from
fatigue.
Although the impacts of fatigue are closely linked to the operations of the flight, it is currently a
major concern as far as the management of the air traffic is concerned. This particular paper
presents a proper analysis of an accident that occurred due to pilot fatigue. The analysis has been
done by the use of the Swiss-cheese model that describes the layer of the situation. Perrow’s
model has been used in the determination of the tightness of the couple as well as checking for
the level of its interaction with the relevant component. In order to check for the anti-fragility or
fragility of the component, Taleb’s model was used.
Ethiopian Airline crash
It was on 10 March 2009 when Boeing 737 Max crashed leading to loss of 157 lives. The
Ethiopian Airline Flight was actually scheduled to fly from Bole International Airport in
Ethiopia to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. Considering that the exact causes of
this crash are yet to be established, there is a perfect opportunity for the use of the Swiss-cheese
model in the identification of the layer occupied by the situation just before the time of the
accident.
Swiss-cheese model

The Swiss Cheese Model uses a basic concept of cheese slices to synthesize a complex system in
terms of the layers. The slices that are used are never perfect and therefore they have
imperfections or holes that enable penetration process. Every slice forms a different layer in the
system under the study. The commonly considered layers include the following:
 Layer of organization
 The training layer
 Pre-condition layer
 Unsafe acting layer.
The organizational layer usually involves the strategies of the organization that are aimed at
cutting costs in order to save money later to realize that their actions have infringed aviation
safety.
Supervision or training layer
This is a very crucial layer in flying. All safe operations are linked to superior operations. The
pilots are required to have sufficient training
Precondition layer
This layer is characterized by a lack of concentration, fatigue, and stress. This simply confirms
that no one can beat the best level of performance all the time through. The pilots will, therefore,
keep posing questions to themselves as to whether they should fly at particular times.
A layer of unsafe acting
This is the active layer. It is the failure itself.