Human Factors - SM4 Safety Articles & Resources
How to Address the Top 4 Challenges Faced by Most Flight Departments
If your flight department operates one-to-three aircraft, you’re likely facing resource constraints. And depending on how you manage them, they can make or break your operating success. Because a lack…
You Can’t Handle the Truth!
Lt Kaffee: “I want the truth!” Col Jessep: “You can’t handle the truth!” That’s the famous interchange from the movie “A Few Good Men” when the characters played by Jack…
Centers of Gravity (Living Ones)
Pilots are all familiar with the concept of center of gravity (CG), the fulcrum point around which thrust, drag, lift and gravity work. We know that if this point moves,…
How Many Flight Crew are Needed to Operate Safely?
The topic of appropriate pilot and flight attendant staffing levels can be a delicate, even emotional, subject. Virtually every business aviation leader struggles with answering: “How many maintenance technicians, pilots…
Crushing Groupthink in Pursuit of Safety: A Case Study
I recently had the wonderfully unique experience of working with a group of experts who didn’t give a damn about hurting each other’s feelings. The team was tasked to produce…
A Source of Stability Amidst a Torrent of Change
Our industry is on the bow wave of some of the greatest change in the last 50 years. Tens of thousands of new pilots and maintenance professionals are entering the…
Professionally Uncomfortable
Adapted from Dr. Kern’s column in Skies magazine I usually take great care not to talk about recent mishaps, and for good reason. Typically, emotions are high, and friends and…
Could Technology Be a Hindrance to Your Operation?
When Jim Lara had a new up-to-date avionics suite installed in his Baron last December, he faced a task even more daunting than selecting, installing and paying for the glass…
Take the Fight to the Enemy: Combating Human Error is Still Our Top Challenge
A few years back, after the publication of Blue Threat: Why to Err is Inhuman, I was interviewed on the topic of human error. With the rash of human error…
