ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature of human error and then applies this knowledge to meeting the challenge which error presents in a critical activity such as air transport. It might be useful to set the stage for a discussion of human error by the current air safety scene into some perspective. One possible way to handle the problem of human error in a particular task is to take the task away from man altogether and give it to the machine or the computer. The chapter focuses on the sources and classification of errors, many of the steps which should be taken to control them will be self-evident. Nevertheless, it may be worthwhile to review these steps referring to the sources and classification terms already quoted and within the general framework of the two-pronged attack. Redundancy in flight crew and other critical team activity is provided to permit cross-monitoring; without it, the normal error rates would never be acceptable.
