Is our current certification process a threat to safety innovation?

Certification is an important process in the aviation industry. The certified status of aircraft, aircraft equipment and procedures is often regarded as a guarantee for safety. However, if shortcomings emerge during operation, this certified status can prevent improvement of the design. In addition, to develop and certify new equipment, it is...

The Skill Assumption: Over-Relicance on Perception Skills in Hazard Analysis

In the analysis of human performance and human error, considerable attention is given to the cognitive processes of actors involved in error or success scenarios. Even with awareness of hindsight bias, it takes effort to understand the actions of agents in later inspection of error scenarios. One such topic of heated discussion was the perceived...