STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF HFACS IN UNMANNED AND MANNED AIR VEHICLES

摘要

This study conducts a review of the literature and presents a framework for analyzing the structure of Human Factors and Classification System (HFACS). The paper provides an ex-post facto design using historical data for modelling of human-machine complex system failures. The purpose of this research is to analyze the structural relationships of accident causes among HFACS levels in comparable unmanned and manned air vehicles and to analyze the common paths between these both type of aircraft accident causes. Three hypotheses have been developed based on James Reason's "SWISS CHEESE" model (1990) of accident causation model and tested using factor analysis and path analysis-Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by SPSS 21.00 and AMOS software. The study utilized primary data of 347 Class A aerospace accidents and their corresponding summaries from the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) of USAF reports between the years of 2000 and 2013. The study suggests that determination of paths among HFACS causal levels and the relationship between unmanned and manned air vehicle accident causes is essential to exploit the sequential human factor causes of accidents and develop necessary, timely interventions.