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Essay on Human Errors In Flight
Approximately 80% of aviation accidents are caused by human error. Humans are susceptible to error as stated by the well known adage "to err is human." Achieving a zero error rate for people working in the demanding and dynamic world of aviation is unrealistic. Mistakes by pilots in three key areas are behind most fatal general aviation accidents in Australia.
Pilots make errors in flight planning, aircraft handling and fuel management, with these factors contributing to 78 per cent of fatal light aircraft accidents.
The two biggest problem areas are poor flight planning and mistakes in aircraft handling.
Flight planning problems include flying into bad weather without adequate instrument training, unnecessary low flight, poor responses to emergencies and flying in darkness without adequate training.
Visual flight rules pilots who fly into weather conditions that require a greater use of instruments contribute to 25 per cent of the fatal crashes involving flight planning mistakes.
Unnecessary low flight is a factor in 17 per cent of fatal accidents, emergencies 9 per cent and flying in darkness without adequate training 8 per cent.
Where handling errors contribute to fatal light aircraft accidents, mishandling is the biggest factor at 59 per cent.
This is followed by poor pilot response to emergencies at 19 per cent, incorrect configuration of aircraft is evident in 13 per cent and unnecessary manoeuvres are identified in 9 per cent of crashes.
Fuel problems are present in 10 per cent of all fatal light aircraft accidents in Australia.
This includes situations where pilots make mistakes with fuel management and where the aircraft completely runs out of fuel.
Other factors that contribute to crashes include aircraft loading mistakes, engine problems, failure to comply with air traffic control and communications problems. The average age of pilots killed in light aircraft accidents is 43....
