Flying without errors

Brunel University has helped to develop a system that could reduce the number of air travel accidents caused by pilot error arising from design flaws in aircraft cockpits.

The Human Error Template (HET) is used during the design and building phases to identify design defects that could increase the chances of human error, meaning they can be remedied before the aircraft is completed.

‘It is a paper based checklist tool,’ said Paul Salmon, a research fellow at Brunel University’s School of Engineering and Design. ‘We have an error mode taxonomy with 12 different modes of error.

‘Each task involved in the flying of an aircraft is analysed and each step of the task is put into a hierarchy. Every step can then be taken through a flow chart to analyse it for potential sources of error and then the errors categorised and dealt with.