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human factors

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Attitude Adjustments Could Prevent Aircraft Accidents

The cause of most aircraft accidents is not mechanical failures or malfunctioning equipment—it’s humans. Pilots can be their own worst enemies, but awareness of common hazardous behaviors can help reduce accidents.

A Tool for Structured Evaluation of Electronic Flight Bag Usability

The purpose of this report is to document the progress to date on constructing this usability-assessment tool for EFBs. It covers how the tool was developed and tested, what it looks like to date, and how it could be used to help assess and track EFB usability. Further testing is planned to...

Instrument Procedures: Work in Progress

Volpe is examining chart formats and the use of information from the charts. The research on chart formats explores ways to improve the readability of a chart when there is a lot of information is presented in a small space.

Human Factors Research on Instrument Procedures for FAA's NextGen Office

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are transitioning to Performance Based Navigation (PBN). PBN instrument procedures based on Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) offer significant safety...

Website Aims to Reduce Fatigue Among Railroaders

When sleep takes a back seat for a railroader, the on-the-job consequences can be fatal. A new interactive, multimedia website educates railroad employees about the importance of healthy sleep and helps them make informed decisions about sleep to improve workplace performance.