blame

Airport worker killed in “freak accident”

By Dave English

The Daily Express newspaper reports today that an airport worker was killed in a “freak accident.” He was sucked into a jet engine. Or as human factors professionals calls it, a “normal accident”. An Air India official told The Hindustan Times: At the moment, we are absolutely clueless on how this person was near the aircraft. Only an inquiry can establish whose negligence it was and whether the engine should have been switched on at that time.   Comforting to know the negligence witch-hunt has started. Someone must be at fault. Wonder if any management or regulatory people will get blamed for … Continue reading Airport worker killed in “freak accident”

Blame the pilots?

By Dave English

Air Force Times article from two days ago sums up the results of a six-week investigation of the October 3rd bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan that killed 30 people – Crew Blamed. However the news story also notes deeper systematic issues, a culture that places pilots into impossible situations. But you can’t discipline a procedure or a rule or a culture. And no general is going to fall on his sword when there are crew that can be blamed for their ‘human error’.  “The direct result of human error, compounded by systems and procedural failures.” Army … Continue reading Blame the pilots?

Flight controls free and correct?

By Dave English

You have a religion that says if I want to live, I’m going to run the checklist. Robert Hulse Last week the NTSB released lots of details on a fatal accident that will keep lawyers and human factors academics busy for years. It involves rich high-profile (newspaper publisher) passengers, an iconic Gulfstream IV jet, the failure of a basic airplane safety system and the repeated failure of basic airmanship. Maybe the best account of this two-factor crash is the online piece Deadly Failure On The Runway by McCoy and Purcell of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Fascinating reading. (The NTSB press release … Continue reading Flight controls free and correct?

Somber reading about F/A-18C accident

By Dave English

“An overreliance on technology can be a disadvantage.” Official report of a USN F/A-18C fatal accident that also talked about ‘situational awareness’. Good weather. Good plane. Good pilot. Always risky aircraft carrier operations. All this and more in a somber New York Times article