Clicking around research rabbit holes, reading papers cited by other papers, looking for something else entirely, I came across something in one of the world’s premier medical journals, The Lancet: Preventive Medicine In Its Relation To Aviation, by E. Goodwin Rawlinson (full PDF). From nineteen thirty-two. Yes, 1932.
Lots of great quotes:
“It must always be an axiom that the pilot (apart from the machine) is the paramount factor of flying.”
For the design team, he observes:
“The maker of the machines, in his engineering enthusiasm, unconsciously adds to the pilot’s troubles by altering or adding controls, changing what has been an automatic reaction to an extraconscious action—a possible source of error in rapid judgement.”
Are you listening Boeing?
The 70% of accidents are human factors had already been discovered from accident data. And that’s considering late 1920’s aircraft! French figures show “over half are due to faulty airmanship (errors of judgement) and less that one-quarter to engine failure. American figures bear this out.” From British accident data for 1929, they found “70 per cent due to errors of judgement (faulty pilotage).” Sad that some books treat this like it’s a new idea.
“These figures emphasise very strongly the urgent necessity of considering no factor too trivial where the pilot is concerned.”
There’s more. Pilot’s flying time must be regulated. Rapid transmission of diseases around the world was seen to be a problem. Of course, not everything holds up well after ninty years. Turns out, the common cold is not cured by flight at high altitude.
But overall, many of the messages still hold true today. Which is why we keep researching ideas, and can never forget the paramount importance of pilots and airmanship in aviation safety.
Al quotes from Rawlinson, E. G. (1932). Preventive medicine in its relation to aviation. The Lancet, 9 Jan 1932, pages 111-114.