For human factors researchers, the most important interactions are those that involve the people, or liveware.
This includes: L-H, L-S, and L-L interfaces. In real world application the relationships of course are not limited to
two dimensions, but must be thought of and planned in three dimensions. This occurs for example, when both the
cockpit and cabin crewmembers interactions with each other and the myriad of hardware and software interfaces
encountered in the course of a normal air carrier flight are considered.
Liveware
In the centre of the model is a person, the most critical as well as the most flexible component in the system. Yet
people are subject to considerable variations in performance and suffer many limitations, most of which are now
predictable in general terms. The edges of this block are not simple and straight, and so the other components of
the system must be carefully matched to them if stress in the system and eventual breakdown are to be avoided
In order to achieve this matching, an understanding of the characteristics of this central component is essential.
Some of the more important characteristics are the following:
i) Physical size and shape - In the design of any workplace and most equipment, a vital role is played by
body measurements and movements, which will vary according to age and ethnic and gender groups.
Decisions must be made at an early stage in the design process, and the data for these decisions are
available from anthropometry and biomechanics.
ii) Physical needs - People’s requirements for food, water and oxygen are available from physiology and
biology.
iii) Input characteristics. - Humans have been provided with a sensory system for to respond to external
events and to carry out the required task. But all senses are subject to degradation for one reason or another,
and the sources of knowledge here are physiology, sensory psychology and biology.
iv) Information processingThese human capabilities have severe limitations. Poor instrument and warning
system design has frequently resulted from a failure to take into account the capabilities and limitations of
the human information processing system. Short- and long-term memory are involved, as well as
motivation and stress. Psychology is the source of background knowledge here.
v) Output characteristics. - Once information is sensed and processed, messages are sent to the muscles to
initiate the desired response, whether it be a physical control movement or the initiation of some form of
communication. Acceptable control forces and direction of movement have to be known, and
biomechanics, physiology and psychology provide such knowledge.
vi) Environmental tolerances. - Temperature, pressure, humidity, noise, time of day, light and darkness can
all be reflected in performance and also in well-being. Heights, enclosed spaces and a boring or stressful
working environment can also be expected to influence behaviour and performance. Information is
provided here by physiology, biology and psychology.
The Liveware is the hub of the SHEL model of Human Factors. The remaining components must be adapted and
matched to this central component.
3.2.1 Liveware-Hardware.
This interface is the one most commonly considered when speaking of human-machine systems: design of seats to
fit the sitting characteristics of the human body, of displays to match the sensory and information processing
characteristics of the user, of controls with proper movement, coding and location.
The user may never be aware of an L-H deficiency, even where it finally leads to disaster, because the natural
human characteristic of adapting to L-H mismatches will mask such a deficiency, but will not remove its existence.
This constitutes a potential hazard to which designers should be alert.
3.2.2 Liveware-Software
This encompasses humans and the non-physical aspects of the system such as procedures, manual and checklist
layout, symbology and computer programmes. The problems are often less tangible in this interface and are
consequently more difficult to resolve (for example, misinterpretation of checklists or symbology).
3.2.3 Liveware-Environment
The human-environment interface was one of the earliest recognized in flying. Initially, the measures taken all
aimed at adapting the human to the environment (helmets, flying suits, oxygen masks, anti-G suits). Later, the
trend was to reverse this process by adapting the environment to match human requirements (pressurization and
air-conditioning systems, soundproofing). Today, new challenges have arisen, notably ozone concentrations and
radiation hazards at high flight levels and the problems associated with disturbed biological rhythms and related
sleep disturbance and deprivation as a consequence of the increased speed of transmeridian travel. Since illusions
and disorientation are at the root of many aviation accidents the L-E interface must consider perceptual errors
induced by environmental conditions, for example, illusions during approach and landing phases.
The aviation system operates within the context of broad political and economical constraints, and those aspects
of the environment will interact in this interface. Although the possibility of modifying these influences is beyond
Human Factors practitioners, their incidence is central and should be properly considered and addressed by those
in management with the possibility to do so.
3.2.4 Liveware-Liveware.
This is the interface between people. Aircrew training and proficiency testing have traditionally been done on an
individual basis. If each individual crew member was proficient, then it was assumed that the team consisting of
these individuals would also be proficient and effective. This is not always the case, however, and for many years
attention has increasingly turned to the breakdown of teamwork. Flight crews function as groups and group
influences play a role in determining behaviour and performance. In this interface, we are concerned with
leadership, crew co-operation, teamwork and personality interactions. CAP 720 (previously Human Factors ICAO
Digest No. 2) describes current industry approaches to deal with this interface, and concerns cockpit resource
management (CRM) and line-oriented flight training (LOFT) programmes. Staff/management relationships are also
within the scope of this interface, as corporate climate and company operating pressures can significantly affect
human performance. CAP 720 also demonstrates the important role of management in accident prevention
3.3 The Industry Need for Human Factors
The industry need for Human Factors is based on its impact on two broad areas, which interrelate so closely that in
many cases their influences overlap and factors affecting one may also affect the other. These areas are:
• Effectiveness of the system
• safety
• efficiency
• Well-being of crew members
3.3.1 Well-being of Crew Members
Three of the many factors which may influence the well-being of crew members are fatigue, body rhythm
disturbance, and sleep deprivation or disturbance. These will be briefly explained below. Other factors affecting
physiological or psychological well-being include temperature, noise, humidity, light, vibration, workstation design
and seat comfort.
Fatigue - Fatigue may be considered to be a condition reflecting inadequate rest, as well as a collection of
symptoms associated with displaced or disturbed biological rhythms.
Acute fatigue is induced by long duty periods or by a string of particularly demanding tasks performed in a
short term. Chronic fatigue is induced by the cumulative effects of fatigue over the longer term. Mental fatigue
may result from emotional stress, even with normal physical rest. Like the disturbance of body rhythms, fatigue
may lead to potentially unsafe situations and deterioration in efficiency and well-being. Hypoxia and noise are
contributing factors.
Body rhythm disturbance - The most commonly recognized of the body’s rhythms is the circadian or 24-
hour rhythm, which is related to the earth’s rotation time. This cycle is maintained by several agents: the most
powerful are light and darkness, but meals and physical and social activities also have an influence on the body’s
systems.
Safety, efficiency and well-being are affected by the disturbed pattern of biological rhythms typical of today’s long-
range flights. The impact of circadian dysrhythmia is relevant not only to long-distance transmeridian flying – short-
haul operators (couriers and freight carriers, for instance) flying on irregular or night schedules can suffer from
reduced performance produced by circadian dysrhythmia. Air traffic controllers with frequently changing shift
schedules can suffer a similar deterioration in their performance.
Jet lag - is the common term for disturbance or desynchronization of body rhythms, and refers to the lack
of well-being experienced after long-distance transmeridian air travel. Symptoms include sleep disturbance and
disruption of eating and elimination habits, as well as lassitude, anxiety, irritability and depression. Objective
evidence shows slowed reaction and decision-making times, loss of or inaccurate memory of recent events, errors
in computation and a tendency to accept lower standards of operational performance.
Sleep - The most common physical symptoms associated with long-range flying result from disturbance of
the normal sleep pattern, which may in some cases involve an over-all sleep deprivation. Adults usually take sleep
in one long period each day; where this pattern has been established it becomes a natural rhythm of the brain,
even when prolonged waking is imposed. Wide differences are found amongst individuals in their ability to sleep
out of phase with their biological rhythms. Tolerance to sleep disturbance varies between crew members and is
mainly related to body chemistry and, in some cases, to emotional stress factors.
Insomnia - defines a condition where a person has difficulty sleeping. When occurring under
normal conditions and in phase with the body rhythms, it is called clinical insomnia. Situational insomnia
refers to difficulty in sleeping in particular situations where biological rhythms are disturbed, and is the
one we are concerned about in long-range flying.
The resolution of the problem of sleep disturbance or deprivation includes:
• Scheduling crews with due consideration to circadian rhythms and fatigue resulting from sleep deprivation
and disturbance;
• Adapting the diet, understanding the importance of meal times, and adopting other measures in relation to
light/darkness, rest/activity schedules and social interaction;
• Recognizing the adverse long-term effect of drugs (including caffeine and alcohol);
• Optimizing the sleeping environment; and
• Learning relaxation techniques.
Health and performance - Certain pathological conditions – gastrointestinal disorders, heart attacks, etc.
– have caused sudden pilot incapacitation and in rare cases have contributed to accidents.
While total incapacitation is usually quickly detected by other crew members, a reduction in capacity or partial
incapacitation – produced by fatigue, stress, sleep, rhythm disturbances, medication, certain mild pathological
conditions such as hypoglycemia, etc. – may go undetected, even by the person affected. Although no conclusive
evidence is available, physical fitness may have a direct relationship to mental performance and health. Improved
fitness reduces tension and anxiety and increases self-esteem. It has favourable effects on emotions, which affect
motivation, and is believed to increase resistance to fatigue. Factors having a known influence on fitness include
diet, exercise, stress levels and the use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs
Stress - Stress can be found in many jobs, and the aviation environment is particularly rich in potential
stressors. Of main interest is the effect of stress on performance. In the early days of aviation, stressors were
created by the environment: noise, vibration, temperature, humidity, acceleration forces, etc., and were mainly
physiological in nature. Today, some of these have been replaced by new sources of stress: irregular working and
resting patterns and disturbed circadian rhythms associated with long- range, irregular or night-time flying.
Stress is also associated with life events, such as family separation, and with situations such as periodic medical
and proficiency checks. Even positive life events, such as a wedding or the birth of a child, can induce stress in
normal life. In situations where mental workload becomes very high, such as during take-off, landing or an in- flight
emergency, cognitive stress may appear.
Individuals differ in their responses to stress. For example, flight in a thunderstorm area may be challenging for
one individual but stressful for another. The same stressor (the thunderstorm) produces different responses in
different individuals, and any resulting damage should be attributed to the response rather than to the stressor
itself.
3.4 Human Error
It is to human to err, as the saying goes, so it is important to accept the inevitability of human error. No individual
can be expected to perform perfectly at all times.
Human error - is an event that occurs whenever a task or a task element (portion of task) is not performed in
accordance with its specification.
Occurrence of errors assumes a well defined task with standards for comparison. An error occurs when a task
element is.
a) Not performed when required - also referred to as the error of omission (e.g wheels- up landing)
b) Performed when not required – also referred to as the error of commission (e.g landing gear deployed in
flight)
c) Performed incorrectly – also referred to as an error of substitution (e.g shutting down the wrong engine
during an inflight engine failure)
d) Performed out of sequence, e.g not performed tasks in the order required by a checklist
e) Performed late, e.g braking that overshoots the runway.
3.4.1 Management of human error
Modern transport aircrafts, for all their sophistication of design and manufacturing are still highly vulnerable to
errors caused by humans. (e.g crewmembers) who operate in the system.
This section examines strategies for managing human errors and/or minimizing their effects once errors do occurs.
There are two main strategies for controlling human error.
1. engineering strategies
2. administrative strategies
[Link] Engineering Control Strategies
These concentrate on the use of engineering (through automation, human factors engineering, etc) to
eliminate the potential error source during the design phase of the system.
Examples of Engineering Control Strategies
a. Automation
This began in the 1930’s with the introduction of crude autopilot. Developments continued into the jet
age as autopilots and flight directors became intergral components of flight guidance system, which included area
navigation (RNAV) and rudimentary auto throttles. Other devices such as autoslats, autospoilers and auto brakes
became part of the automation package.
This is the assigning of physical or mental tasks previously performed by the crew to machines’ or computers, and
are the frequently cited means of reducing human error. Theoretically automation minimizes or prevents
operational human errors by reducing the physical r mental workload of the human operator or by eliminating the
human from an operational control loop.
b. Cockpit Standardization.
This is considered desirable to reduce training and maintenance cost as well as in preventing human error
that may occur as a result of pilots moving from one aircraft to another.
Most cockpit hardware is peculiar to the type of aircraft. However certain cockpit hardware could be
common to most or all models operated by a carrier, examples are radios, flight directors, certain displays, area
navigation equipment, and weather radar.
c. Warning and Alerting System
Warning and alertin system provide anther line of defense against human error. They may anticipate the
possible error or conditions (eg “insufficient fuel” message in a glass cockpit aircraft). They may warn the crew of
an impending hazard (e.g., GPWS – Ground proximity warning system that somehow reduced or controlled flight
into terrain – CFIT- accidents) or annunciate the error as it occurs (e.g misconfiguaration takeoff warnings). In
many cases, the systems may be considered backup to human vigilance (e.g out of balance fuel conditions) where
the operator has the necessary information available before the system reaches the alarm condition.
d. Display Conspicuity and System Recovery
Another line of defense against error is to make the error, once it enters the system, more conspicuous to
the crew. This can be done through feedback and feed forward mechanisms.
Feedback provides the operator with information on the impact of his or her control inputs while
feedforward mechanism predict and displays the future state of the system which may provide guidance for
control inputs.
Such mechanisms do not prevent the original error, nor do they ensure error tolerance. Put it provides the
crew members with a better opportunity to detect their own error and remove it before it affects the functioning
of the system. The map mode of the HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator) of the EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument
System) aircraft provides an example. Lateral navigational errors shows up very clearly in the map mode. Error
evident displays can be thought of as a form feedback at time employing feedforward.
e. Flight Management computers
The flight management computer can store and process a vast amount of information tpically contained
in manuals, checklists, performance charts. Flight plans, weather reports and documentation and paper work of all
sorts. This information can be displayed to the crew in text numeric and graphical forms in selected pages of the
control display unit, the glass display panels and elsewhere. Some of the information is automatically displayed
requiring no request from the crew (e.g the wind vector on the navigation display) while other information is
available in the FMC on demand through pilot selection of the correct CDU page.
f. Ground Communication
Verbal communication remains the weakest link in the modern aviation system; more than 70% of the
reports to the aviation safety reporting system involve some types of communication problem related to the
operation of an aircraft.
Technologies such as airport traffic lights or data link, have been available for years to circumnavigate
some of the problems inherent in ATC stemming from verbal information transfers.
[Link] Administrative Control Strategies
Administrative error management controls refer to the collection of practices and procedures that are
developed, promulgated and implemented by airlines, regulatory agencies and labor groups.
a) Airline Practices
Management is ultimately responsible for organizing and operating the complex aviation system and its
practices and decisions influence the judgement and skill of the pilots, mechanics, airtraffic controllers and other
key people in the system. For examples, airline management practices regarding pilot selection and training as well
as aircraft design, provide the underpinnings of pilot performance.
Airline management has the responsibility of addressing the human factors problems that have arisen due to
operating practices and management attitudes. Some of the Airline Practices include:
i. Employee selection – one strategy of minimizing error is employee selection – allowing into the system
only those operators least likely to make mistakes. Airline pilots and airtraffic controllers must meet
prescribed health, age (mandatory retirement at age 60 for aircarrieer pilots) and training requirement and
must pass written and operational tests of skills and knowledge. For the select group that survives the
culling, continued quality is maintained through training and monitoring.
ii. Training – pilot training is another strategy for reducing error. There is a practical and a regulatory
requirement for training. Training can be general purpose or specific. General purpose is more broad
based and covers statutory requirements, an example is crew resource management training that offers a
remedy for a broad, perhaps poorly defined class of problems, the origin of which are inadequate or
inappropriate communication in the cockpit. The corrective action comes in the form of a training
program for all pilots.
iii. Responsibility, accountability and enforcement – once an individual has been properly trained and
provided with a clear description of his or her task and the necessary tools to the job, then that individual
is responsible for his or her own actions.
For example, management should be able to expect a pilot to comply with proper flight
procedures. These attributes should be fostered by both management and the individuals professional
association. Failure to perform to a designated standard should result in a person been held accountable.
iv. Procedures and Checklist – Procedures are step by step specification drafted by management and
provided to pilots. They are designated to dictate the manner in which tasks and subtasks are carried out
and to provide a standardization of cockpit duties. Procedures that are well documented and thoroughly
thought through serve to increase crew performance while minimizing errors.
A checklist is a device (paper, mechanical, audio or electronic format) that exists to
ensure that procedures are carried out.
v. Paperwork Reduction and Management – One area that is ubiquitous in methods improvement is
paperwork reduction and management. Corrective action strategies may consist of reducing cockpit
workload by eliminating or simplifying the paperwork not needed for flight or by assigning it to other
personnel in the cabin or on the ground.
vi. Workload Management – There are many opportunities for corrective action by managing of workload.
If workload cannot be eliminated or reduced, it can be managed. Management consists of reallocating
workload to less flight critical phases (e,g programming that can be done at the gate rather than after take-
off) and reallocating duties (particularly in a three pilot crew) to balance the demands on the individual
crew members.
vii. Communication – the term communication usually includes all facets of information transfer. It is an
essential part of teamwork, and language clarity is central to the communication process. Adequate
information requires that the recipient receive, understand and can act on the information gained. For
example radio communication is one of the few areas of aviation in which complete redundancy is not
incorporated. Consequently particular care is reguired to ensure that the recipient receives and fully
understands a radio communication.
The efficiency of communications within an organization is a management responsibility. Clearly written
and easily understood directives, instruction, manuals and so forth are required if staff members are to
understand their responsibilities and duties and how they are expected to carry them out.
viii. Team Concept (Cognitive Redundancy) – this work concept uses individuals in redundant combination
(Backup) with one another so that the mistake of one will be caught by the other before it can lead to an
accident. The two person concept uses two or more persons capable of performing the required task.
Crewmembers monitoring each other during aircraft operations and duplicate engineering inspection are
examples of these procedures.
ix. Peer Pressure Control – peer pressure is helpful in eliminating aberrant behavior, for instance review
committees comprising pilots can be an effective means of modifying pilot behavior towards safe
operating practices and could be used to compliment normal management processes
[Link] Regulatory Practices
The CAA has the responsibility for setting appropriate standards for aircraft, airports and navigation aids. CAA
address airline procedures such as pilot flight time (e.g the minimum rest period a crewmember must have during
any consecutive 24 hour period is 8 hours), emergency operations, and the use of checklists.
Examples of the roles that Regulatory Organization plays in addressing human error are:
1. The regulatory bodies have the legal responsibility to promote air safety and the authority to do so through
rulemaking and enforcement.
2. Regulatory bodies also enforces discipline over flight crews through the levying of fines and/or
suspension of licenses.
3. The regulatory bodies also have the opportunity to intervene to prevent navigational errors in several
ways. it can make changes:
- In the system itself
- Procedures by which the system is operated by ATC
- Cockpit procedures
[Link] Labor Practices
Organized labor has an important role in the resolution of management related human factor problems,
and union contracts or initiatives often address issues not covered by regulatory practices.
Additionally labor organization provides publications, training programs, counseling sessions and
communications channels to management for member employees.
Unions also support independent studies and research efforts, such as the airline pilot association stress
survey ALPA.
