Introduction

This introductory article summarises SKYbrary’s resources for continual learning about human factors in aviation as of 2020. The subject remains a fascinating field of knowledge that influences risk management and the prevention of aircraft accidents and incidents.

Caren Wenner, manager of human factors and statistics at Sandia National Laboratories in the United States, recently said in a conference presentation: “Structurally sound aircraft plummet to Earth, ships run aground in calm seas, industrial machines run awry, and the instruments of medical science maim and kill unsuspecting patients, all because of incompatibilities between the way things are designed and the way people perceive, think, and act. (Casey, 1993)”

When humans perish or suffer serious injuries in a crash, troubling questions inevitably arise about threats, errors and circumstances that destroyed the aircraft.