Human factors is the study of how people perform in complex systems such as aviation. In the cockpit, safety depends not only on engines, wings, and instruments, but also on attention, communication, decision making, and rest. Fatigue can slow reaction time and reduce judgment, especially during night flights or long duty periods.
Understanding human factors helps crews reduce mistakes before they become dangerous.
Key Facts
- Fatigue reduces alertness, memory, reaction time, and decision quality.
- Total duty time = preflight time + flight time + postflight time.
- Rest needed = required recovery time before the next duty period.
- Workload is highest during takeoff, landing, emergencies, and busy airspace.
- Crew resource management uses communication, leadership, and teamwork to improve safety.
- Risk = likelihood x consequence.
Vocabulary
- Human factors
- Human factors is the study of how human abilities, limits, behavior, and teamwork affect safety and performance.
- Fatigue
- Fatigue is a state of reduced physical or mental performance caused by lack of sleep, long work periods, stress, or body clock disruption.
- Duty period
- A duty period is the total time a crew member is working, including preparation, flight, and required tasks after landing.
- Crew resource management
- Crew resource management is the use of teamwork, communication, leadership, and decision making to manage risk in flight operations.
- Workload
- Workload is the amount of mental and physical effort required to complete tasks in a given situation.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming fatigue only means feeling sleepy is wrong because fatigue can also reduce attention, memory, and judgment even when a person feels awake.
- Ignoring small communication errors is wrong because unclear callouts, missed readbacks, or assumptions can combine into a serious safety threat.
- Treating automation as a replacement for monitoring is wrong because pilots must still verify modes, flight path, and aircraft energy state.
- Trying to handle high workload alone is wrong because aviation safety depends on task sharing, checklists, and speaking up early.
Practice Questions
- 1 A crew reports at 05:30, flies from 06:15 to 10:45, completes a second flight from 12:00 to 15:10, and finishes postflight duties at 15:40. What are the total duty time and total flight time?
- 2 A pilot gets 5.5 hours of sleep before duty. The recommended sleep target is 8.0 hours. How many hours of sleep debt does the pilot have, and what percent of the target sleep was achieved?
- 3 During an approach at night, one pilot notices the aircraft is high and fast, but the other pilot is focused on programming the flight computer. Explain how crew resource management should be used to manage workload and reduce error.