A Systematic Method for Analyzing Human Factors-Related Accidents to Improve Aviation Safety in the Air Force

Aviation safety is increasingly important to secure the safety of the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF). A critical activity for enhancing aviation safety is to analyze an accident throughly and to identify causes that can explain it reasonably. The results of such a systematic accident investigation can be effectively used for improving information displays, task procedures, and training systems as well as for reorganizing team structure and communication control system. However, the current practice of analyzing aviation accidents in ROKAF is too superficial and simple to diagnose them systematically. Additionally, the current practice does not give a full consideration to human factors that have been identified as main causes of most of the aviation accidents. With this issue in mind, this study aims to suggest a new approach to analyzing aviation accidents related to human factors.The proposed method is developed on the basis of several models and frameworks about system safety, human error, and human-system interaction. Its application to forty-two human factors-related accidents, which have occurred in ROKAF during the last ten years, showed that the proposed method could be a useful tool for analyzing aviation accidents caused by human factors.