Human Factors - SM4 Safety Articles & Resources

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business aircraft at airport

What Does Modern Airmanship Mean to You?

The 9 Principles of Automation Airmanship, learned and applied and elaborated on over time with experience and insights gained from personal curiosity, research and training can form a resilient pattern of flight deck discipline that can fundamentally change how an individual pilot interacts with their aircraft and crew in the 21st Century.

Posted on July 7, 2022
aviation operations

Understanding Human Factors in Safety Assurance: The Bowtie Method

Human factors may be the final frontier in aviation risk management. While those factors can’t be handled in the same way as, for example, issues with mechanical systems, there is new thinking in risk management that can help. It includes viewing a high-risk situation as an event and then using a so-called “bowtie diagram” as a tool for defining and addressing it.

Posted on March 1, 2022
business meeting

Riptide: Psychological Safety in a Cancel-Culture World

There is a dangerous riptide taking place between what is acceptable in our society and what is necessary in our workplace. As everything turns into an “us vs. them” war of opinions, the ability to respectfully listen to others is rapidly becoming a lost art. Aviation must, once again, demonstrate its leadership in constructive communication.

Posted on March 1, 2022
runner on track

Managing Fatigue with Quantitative Data

It may be November, but the clouds are clearing for air operators. People are flying again. Business meetings are being scheduled live. And the busy holiday season is coming up soon. Is your flight department ready?

Posted on November 2, 2021
caffeine power

Caffeine Will Enable Me To Power Through My Day. Right?

Worrying about the current public health crisis and how it affects our jobs, our lives and our health is something that all of us have experienced to some degree over the past year. Unsurprisingly, an increasing number of people have been reporting sleep disturbances since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Posted on June 7, 2021
Running with time

How to Combat Revenge Procrastination

We all know that sleep is important. When we don’t get the 7‐9 hours of daily sleep recommended by the National Sleep Foundation and endorsed by a consensus of top scientists, we feel groggy and irritable. It can affect our relationships. Our performance at work suffers.

Posted on March 1, 2021
Pilot wearing face mask completing preflight checklist

How Many Hours Are You Really Working?

While commercial airlines continue to struggle amid a dearth of passenger volume, many business aviation and charter air operators have experienced a strong recovery since the initial COVID-19 slowdown this past spring—and indeed, some are busier than ever.

Posted on December 1, 2020
Boy running through field with toy wings

Aviation Needs More Poets Right Now

Most of us began as dreamers and poets, all wanting to “slip the surly bonds of earth… dance the skies on laughter silvered wings… and reach out to touch the face of God.” Most know these words came from John Gillespie Magee Jr., who was a World War II Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and poet. Most don’t know that he was killed in a mid-air collision over England in 1941.

Posted on October 1, 2020
Woman and man pilots standing on runway

Managing Workplace Fatigue During COVID-19

It has been barely six months since the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first identified, four months since the first U.S. cases were mentioned in the news and some 10 weeks since lockdowns were imposed to help stem the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Posted on June 26, 2020