Pilot error declines as factor in airline mishaps

Airline accidents attributed to pilot error declined significantly between 1983 and 2002, according to new US research. While the overall rate of US domestic airline mishaps remained stable during that time, the proportion involving pilot error decreased 40%, say researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The researchers also found a 71% reduction in the rate of mishaps related to poor decision-making by pilots, They attribute the decline to better training and improvements in technology. The study findings are published in the January 2008 edition of Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.
Lead author Susan Baker says the study examined 558 crashes and other mishaps involving US domestic air carriers on scheduled and unscheduled flights under Part 121 operating regulations. They were drawn from the National Transportation Safety Board database of accidents and incidents involving fatalities and injuries in the air and on the ground, she says.
Mishaps outside the USA, those caused by criminal acts and those for which there was no NTSB investigation data were not included in the study, Baker says.
28/12/07 Graham Warwick/Flight International

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2007, Safety Dec 2007