Civilian And Military Aviators Share Common Problem
While a growing concern for civilian pilots, top safety
officials at the US Air Force report "human factors" is also a
primary cause of military aircraft mishaps.
That testimony by Air Force Chief of Safety Maj. Gen. Kenneth W.
Hess came as part of a congressional hearing on military aviation
safety, Feb. 11, where safety directors from all four service
branches testified before the House Armed Services Committee. The
general told committee members that "task saturation" is one
example of how the human factor can be responsible for mishaps.
"Task saturation is a big deal in some of these mishaps,"
General Hess said. "As the situation becomes critical and the
aviator (starts) to load-shed, they can … get themselves
(in) trouble. Anything we can do to bring up the situational
awareness in the machine itself will help prevent that kind (of)
misprioritization."
General Hess said developmental technology, such as the tactile
vest, improvements in the types of information being brought into
cockpits, and better ground-based training are all going to help
the Air Force deal with the human factor.
"Our simulation
technology has moved from very mechanical, in-the-box kinds of
simulators to distributed training where you are bringing many
different elements," General Hess said. "(As a result) you are able
to experience a lot of concentrated work before you ever get into
the cockpit. I think that will (help) with the (issue of) task
saturation."
In May 2003, the secretary of defense challenged the military
services to reduce the number of mishaps by 50 percent over two
years. General Hess said the Air Force is ready to accept the
challenge.
"Over the past 10 years the Air Force has lost more than 300
airmen and nearly 250 aircraft valued at about $11 billion,"
General Hess said. "These aviation accidents could have been
prevented. The Air Force fully endorses Secretary (Donald)
Rumsfeld's 50-percent reduction goal as a beginning."
The general said that a 10-year analysis of Air Force aviation
mishaps revealed three areas where the service will focus its
safety improvement efforts: controlled flight into terrain; power
plant failures, and; mid-air collisions and loss of control in
flight. He also said that improvements in safety must start at the
lowest level.
"We realize that real change starts at the grass-roots level,"
General Hess said. "Commanders and supervisors, the leaders, are
accountable for safety practices and must take action to reduce the
rates. Clearly, safety must be a priority for everyone."
Despite multiple
questions, the Air Force and other service safety representatives
maintained that aging aircraft fleets are not a cause of aviation
mishaps. General Hess said all aircraft are held to the same
standards of airworthiness and that even the oldest aircraft in the
Air Force fleet, the KC-135 Stratotanker, has an extremely low
mishap rate of about .35 per 100,000 hours of flight time.
But the general also explained to committee members that asking
whether an aircraft is safe despite its age and asking if it is
cost-effective to continue maintaining such an aircraft yields
different answers.
"The Air Force is going to maintain the flight safety standards
of that airplane at whatever cost is required to keep it safe as
long as it is in the inventory," General Hess said. "The flight
safety standards will not be compromised."
However, the general said, when comparing the cost benefit of
taking an aging KC-135 to the maintenance depot to how much useful
life is left in the machine, one can draw a different conclusion.
While aviation safety was the primary focus of the congressional
hearing, General Hess did tell committee members that mishaps on
the ground, particularly those involving automobiles, are more
problematic to the Air Force than aviation-related mishaps.
"We work the motor vehicle problem as hard, or harder, because
each of the services is affected more by the slaughter on our
nation's highways than we are by problems we confront on the
aviation side," General Hess said.