An exploratory study on the effects of human, technical and operating factors on aviation safety

• Main Authors: LOW, Mei Wan, YANG, Kum Khiong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Aviation; Systems safety; Human factor; Crash data; Technical factor; Operating and regulatory environment; Operations and Supply Chain Management
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5895
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article explores the effects of human, technical, and operating factors on the safety record of 50 airlines over the period 2004 to 2015. The factors examined include (1) pilot salary, (2) fleet age, (3) International Air Transport Association - Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification, (4) International Civil Aviation Organization safety parameters (i.e., legislation, organization, licensing, operations, airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation service, and aerodromes), and (5) cultural-related indices (such as power distance, degree of uncertainty avoidance, and language for communication). Among the important factors such as organization, licensing, and operations performance, pilot salary is identified as the most important factor differentiating airlines with or without crashes. Within the group of airlines that encountered air accidents during the study period, fleet age, airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation services and aerodromes scores, and salary are found to be significant factors on accident rate. IOSA certification, aerodromes, language of communi-cation, and uncertainty avoidance appear to be totally immaterial. Identifying the important factors is important to assist airlines investigate and improve their safety records.