Physiological Contributions to Aviation Mishaps

Catalog description

This course will cover major principles of the scientific method with an application to mishap investigation. Students will gain an understanding of the human, environmental, technological, and material factors which directly or indirectly contribute to manned and unmanned aviation and space mishaps. Special Emphasis is placed on aerospace-related physiologic contributors covered in PHOL 422 , such as hypoxia and spatial disorientation. Additional topics will include proper classification of incidents; establishment of investigation teams and their roles and responsibilities; preservation of evidence based on industry accepted standards; hypothesis development and analysis; accurate data management; root cause analysis, and corrective actions influencing administrative policy and guidance changes. Analysis of selected past aviation and space craft mishaps will facilitate determination of possible causal and non-causal factors and how they relate to the incident origin. The importance of mishap prevention efforts such as data extraction, identifying trends, educational efforts to the operators, and other mitigation strategies such as automation, mission preparedness, crew composition, and predictive and real time risk assessments are reviewed. Related concepts include the contribution of human factors, site safety for the investigator, defining safety privilege, casualty identification, and the aeromedical role in investigations.