
Aerospace Human Factors Safety Analysis
Apply human factors frameworks to aerospace incident analysis and risk reduction
What You Can Do
You can systematically analyze aerospace accidents and incidents using evidence-based human factors frameworks like STAMP, SHEL, and Five Whys to identify systemic contributors beyond individual error. The skill pinpoints design flaws, procedural gaps, and organizational factors that created the accident pathway. You'll receive structured findings and specific, actionable interventions for design improvements or procedural changes to prevent recurrence.
Features
Apply STAMP, SHEL model, Swiss cheese model, Five Whys, and Reason's organizational failure analysis to the same incident for comprehensive coverage
Trace the complete accident pathway from contributing factors through organizational failures, not just individual crew errors
Identify latent failures, organizational pressures, and design vulnerabilities that aligned to create the accident
Generate specific cockpit design, systems integration, or procedural changes to block the identified accident pathway
Evaluate crew cognitive load, attention distribution, and information presentation that contributed to the incident
Identify breakdowns in crew resource management, ATC handoffs, or maintenance-flight crew interfaces
Score findings by likelihood, severity, and detection difficulty to prioritize which interventions to implement first
Example Output
Example 1: Controlled Flight Into Terrain Analysis
SHEL Framework Findings:
- Software: Approach briefing lacked terrain awareness protocol; crew relied on visual cues unavailable in low visibility
- Hardware: Terrain alerting system inhibited at low altitude by design; no go-around automation cuing
- Environment: Terrain masking, low-level wind shear, inadequate ground radar coverage
- Liveware: High workload during descent; captain's attention divided between navigation and weather
Latent Organizational Failures:
- Training culture discouraged automation reliance during high-workload phases
- Regulatory guidance permitted terrain alerting inhibition at low altitude
- Procedural design did not mandate terrain awareness discussion in low-visibility approaches
Ranked Interventions:
- High Priority: Redesign terrain alerting to remain active below 500 feet with distinct audio alert
- High Priority: Revise approach briefing to mandate terrain awareness discussion in low-visibility conditions
- Medium Priority: Update crew training to normalize automation use during high-workload phases
Example 2: Maintenance Communication Failure
Five Whys + System Analysis: Engine failure from undetected compressor blade crack → Borescope inspection was scheduled but crew never received notification → Maintenance and flight crew scheduling operate on separate databases with no real-time sync → Scheduled inspections trigger alerts only in legacy paper logs
Design Intervention: Implement real-time maintenance-to-dispatch integration with automated flight crew notification 48 hours before affected flight departure.
What's Included
- Framework selection guide: Decision tree to choose STAMP, SHEL, Reason model, or combination based on incident type
- Structured analysis template: Step-by-step prompts to extract incident facts, apply framework logic, and map findings to intervention areas
- Risk matrix and prioritization: Severity-likelihood-detectability scoring to rank interventions and allocate remediation resources
- Intervention recommendation library: Pre-built design change, procedural, training, and organizational remediation suggestions for aerospace context
- Human factors vocabulary reference: Glossary for consistent terminology (latent failures, active failures, workload, situation awareness) in reports
Who It's For
- Aviation Safety Engineers
- Accident Investigators and Safety Board Analysts
- Flight Operations Directors and Pilots
- Systems Safety Engineers
- Maintenance and Design Engineers
Best For
- Formal accident investigation and reporting
- Design review safety analysis for new aircraft or systems
- Systemic incident pattern identification across similar events
- Procedural and training curriculum improvement
- Regulatory compliance and safety case documentation







