Why Learning Opportunities From Aviation Incidents Are Lacking

Abstract

Abstract. The rising trend of fatal aircraft accidents since 2018 suggests a limited safety capability of airlines in terms of learning from incidents (LFI). We evaluated 2,208 voluntary incident reports from commercial European pilots using qualitatively driven mixed methods to investigate LFI “bottlenecks.” The results showed that the report frequency depends on the type of pilots’ active failure causing the incident (performance‐based errors, judgment and decision‐making errors and violations). Learning opportunities were lacking, especially for incidents caused by pilots’ inadequate decision-making. Confidential reporting has positive effects on LFI, as these reports contained more information about latent failures. Furthermore, we identified several latent failures that are risk factors for certain unsafe acts. Our results may support airlines in various LFI activities.

Human Behavior in the Context of Continuous Change - An Exploratory Analysis in a Research and Application Center Industry 4.0

“…When adaptation fails, it might have dramatic consequences for the individual and the organization, such as regarding safety or working time. For example, in high-reliability organizations, such as airlines in the aviation sector, the false execution of an action might have catastrophic consequences (Sieberichs & Kluge, 2021).…”