Reuters report that Bill Voss, president of the U.S.-based Flight Safety Foundation, has stated that "human factors are emerging as a worrisome trend in global air crashes and other incidents as fatigue, complex flight systems, inconsistent training and regulation pose new challenges to airlines". Voss reportedly told industry and government officials that 2009 could be the worst year in a decade for major commercial aviation accidents. There have been 12 crashes this year through June and carriers globally are on pace to equal the 10-year high of 24 crashes in 1999, according to safety foundation figures. "We've seen an increase in loss of control," Voss said of reported in-flight mishaps linked to turbulence or other unexpected situations that usually do not result in crashes. "We're back in the human factors business," according to Voss. Source: Reuters, 30 June 2009. tinyurl.com/nb255j
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According to Boeing's data on Commercial Airplane Accidents involving Worldwide Commercial Jet Fleet between 1998 and 2007, loss of control in-flight topped the list of categories, with 1984 fatalities (22 fatal accidents), compared to the second biggest category, controlled flight into terrain at 1137 fatalities (18 fatal accidents), and System/Component Failure or Malfunction (Non-Powerplant) third at 655 fatalities (6 fatal accidents). Since Boeing's top "primary cause" (thankfully no longer cited) had long been "flight crew error" (again, thankfully no longer cited), it seems that aviation accidents have always been human factors business.
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