Evaluating Psychological Aircraft Accident Reports for Differences in the Investigation of Human Factors

Abstract

Analyzing accidents clearly is an important method for maintaining and improving safety in aviation. Nevertheless, evaluating these accident reports is equally important. Still, such evaluations seem to be generally neglected, especially in the military domain. The aim of the current study was to shed light on this fact by analyzing investigated human factors in military aircraft accident reports of aviation psychologists. Therefore, the authors conducted a content analysis of 42 reports of the German Armed Forces from the years 1994-2014. Confidence intervals and effect sizes indicated various differences in human factors throughout the psychological aircraft accident reports. Further, confidence intervals and effect sizes indicated differences in the corresponding areas. Thus, differences concerning human factors exist in the investigated accident reports.