HFACS Analysis for Investigating Human Errors in Flight Training Accidents

Abstract

Training of pilots in civil aviation is the primary concern when dealing with accidents and incidents. There has been too little research into accidents during flight instruction. To advance the literature, the present study aims to analyze accidents during the instructional general aviation flights. This study examined investigation reports of 70 accidents involving instructional general aviation flights in the United States between 01.01.2018 and 12.12.2018. The data of those accidents was recorded by the national transportation safety board (NTSB).The causal factors of those accidents were statistically analyzed and classified by using the Human FactorsAnalysis and Classification System (HFACS). To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first ever report analyzing contributing factors of training flight accidents by the analytical framework HFACS. According to the analysis results, it was revealed that across all accidents mentioned above, skill-based errors were ranked as the primary contributing factors, followed by environmental factors, and decision errors. Results showed that the most common skill-based errors are student pilots’ improper landing flare and failure to maintain directional control during landing and takeoff. The findings of this study provide intriguing insight that may be beneficial to people researching contributing factors of aviation accidents in academia and practice. Furthermore, the outcome of the current study may assist student pilots in completing safe flights.