Physiology and Psychology of Flight

Chapter 2-Human Error

1. Civil jet transport total losses amount on average to about 3 aircraft per month. True or False

1. Safety in air transport has increased in virtually any way that safety can be measured. True or False

1. According to the Public Perspective of Risk by Hammarskjold, Human Factors seems truly to be the Last Frontier of the airline safety problem. True or False

1. Accident penalties: In addition to the cost in loss of life-some 300-700 in an average year-air accidents are also expensive in financial terms. What are the two other types of losses the author listed?

1. According to the author, it may be sobering for the captain of a large jet transport to know that the aircraft and its human payload for which he is legally responsible (FAR 91.3), may be valued at something approaching $1000 million. Explain!

1. What year was the airline industry deregulated?

1. Because the airline industry was deregulated,

1)The number of commuter airlines doubled

2)Bankruptcies, struggles for survival and corporate take-overs proliferated

3)Cost cutting became the name of the game

4)All of the above

1. What is one way an airline can determine if an applicant is accident prone.

1. With the trans-cockpit authority gradient concept in mind, give an example of a problem caused by the Liveware-Liveware interface.

1. What is the reason why aircraft accidents deter some potential passengers from flying, while the daily carriage on the roads seems to have no equivalent effect?

1. A person is considered __________________________if they possess some innate characteristic which makes them more liable to have accidents.

1. Sources of errors: Authority relationships between the captain and the first officer have been cited in many accidents and incidents. What could be the problem if the Captain is too dominating and if the First Officer is inexperienced and unassertive?

1. CRM stands for ______________________________________.

1. What the Captain says should be the final word in every decision and a subordinate should never challenge that decision. True or False

1. Technically competent people, that are interpersonally weak, make great team players. True or False

16.Expectation has influence on perception. We hear what we expect to hear and see

what we expect to see. How could this be a source of errors?

1. If the motivation to perform a particular task is too low, then a reduced performance with more errors can be expected. True or False

1. If a control on a new aircraft is similar position but moves in a different direction from that in a previous aircraft flown, then an error in operation may be anticipated?

True or False

1. Eye Witness Errors: Eye witnesses can play a significant role in the reconstruction of accidents and incidents and so contribute to flight safety. An eye witnesses' testimony is always accurate and is the best source of information for accident investigation. True or False

1. Circle the number(s) that makes this statement true. Eye witness testimonies can be unreliable because

1)An eyewitness may feel an obligation to defend a colleague or organization, which may result in economical, selective or flexible use of memory.

2)May be influenced from previous discussion of error sources.

3)They desire to please the questioner.

4)They have not contacted their horoscope, Walter Mercado or Miss Cleo.

5)Retention of the observed phenomena in the mind of the witness is subject to influence.

6)The trauma of seeing an aircraft explode in flames may reduce the reliability of the subsequent recall, generating possible distortions, additions or subtractions.

1. Self-pacing of a task, that is, doing it at one's own speed, contributes to error-free operation. However, it is not possible to do most flying tasks at your own pace? True or False

1. If a Captain is questioned by the First Officer about his decision to descend to a lower altitude, this would be an example of what concept in the Human Factor Model?

1)Liveware-Livewire

2)Liveware-Short circuit

3)Liveware-Hardwire

4)Liveware-Environment

1. If a Flight Attendant could not hear the Captains announcement to prepare the cabin for an emergency landing because of the noise of the aircraft engines, this would be an example of what concept in the Human Factor Conceptual Model?

a.Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM)

b.Livewire-Environment

c.Airplane Acoustics

d.None of the above