ABSTRACT
This chapter considers why many manufacturers outwardly pledge their allegiance, but privately seem to resist any real shift in working practices, to accommodate the ‘human’ element. It argues that the structure and business culture of the industry overall is unlikely to facilitate a solution to human factors issues, and that regulation has a role to play in improving the ‘human’ aspects in safety. From a human factors viewpoint, a safe flight could be seen as having three major contributory areas: flight deck design, operational environment, and pilot preparation. The pilot forms the adaptable, flexible, thinking interface that can often compensate for minor incompatibilities or shortcomings between the contributory areas. The manufacturer would have to fund any human factors effort that is directed at flight deck design, but the real benefits of it will be reaped by the aircraft operators, trainers, insurers, and maintainers.
