ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the organizational factors in aviation safety and mission success. The organizations involved cover the entire range of aviation organizations, from airline operations departments to airports, manufacturing organizations, air traffic control, and corporate flight departments. The chapter is concerned with the development of organizations that exhibit these performance characteristics. Accident and incident reports are filled with descriptions of inadequate training, inappropriate tasking, fatigue, job-related stress, boredom, and burnout. The equipment the organization uses should be both adequate to insure a reasonable level of safety and the best available for the job-within the constraints of cost. No equipment comes without an intellectual toolkit. This toolkit includes, but is not limited to, the written manuals. Bad maintenance or repairs may cause equipment failures almost as dramatic as the use of substandard parts. All equipment is surrounded by a body of tacit knowledge regarding the fine points of its operation.
