Human Error Analysis of Fatal General Aviation Accidents, 1990-1998; Application of a Revised Taxonomy of Unsafe Acts.

摘要

Civil flights (non-military) in the United States (U.S.) are classified as either General Aviation (GA) or air carrier operations. General aviation activities include recreational flying, flight instruction, agricultural operations, sightseeing, and business travel (U & Baker, 1999). The aircraft involved in GA flying may be piloted by a variety of people with a valid pilot license and approved medical history, but belonging to a wide range of age groups. The aircraft flown by GA pilots include airplanes, helicopters, balloons, and gliders. Each year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) records about 2000 GA crashes, which claim about 750 lives (National Safety Council, 1997). Between 1990-1996, GA accounted for 93% of all aviation crashes and 78% of all aviation fatalities. In fact, a pilot flying under the auspices of general aviation is nearly 10 times more likely to be involved in an accident than a military air crewmember (USAF, 2003), more than 11 times more likely than a commercial air crewmember (NTSB 2003b; NTSB, 2003c), and almost 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than large scale commercial pilots (NTSB, 2003a).