Human Factors at Airbus
Jean-Francois Bousquie
EADS Airbus
Kim O'Neil
Advanced Aviation Technology Ltd.
November,
2001
Abstract
Airbus has moved Human Factors center stage in
the design, development, operation and management of its aircraft. This
includes a commitment from the highest levels of its management to a Human
Factors policy encompassing all its activities. Airbus has tested this
commitment by a formal and independent audit to ensure the Human Factors plan
is fully implemented in all its activities. The goal of our Human Factors
policy is to ensure that airlines operating Airbus aircraft are guaranteed the
highest levels of safety.
Introduction
Human Factors are everywhere. The issues that
relate to human factors apply to all transport sectors at all times and in all
cultures. Technology has progressed and the scale of human activities has grown
such that today's Human Factors issues are perhaps more complex than in the
past.
Historically, all aircraft manufacturers
consisted of engineers and pilots who loved their jobs and loved the joint
endeavour they were engaged in: the conception, design, manufacture,
evaluation, testing, fine tuning and operation of aircraft. All their efforts
were put into the making of aircraft and solving the many problems that occur
in trying to get a big bird off the ground and into the air. The primary focus
was thus concentrated on the act of creation. Indeed, this is the proud
heritage of the aircraft industry - such a marvelous history of development,
such rapid and dramatic progress from simple beginnings of wood and canvas and
wire to aircraft that are truly marvels of human endeavour.
Yet during this early period of aircraft
development, relatively little attention was focused on Human Factors, other
than addressing some straightforward ergonomics issues. Aircraft were not built
with the pilot primarily in mind, rather it was expected that the pilot adapt
to the needs of the aircraft. This was more to do with the difficulty of
building aircraft and the short-term consequences of failure.
Indeed, flying itself was perceived as a
'naturally' risky activity and this risk was considered 'part of the job'. In
part, this was an unfortunate result of the main driver for early aircraft
development - war. The statistics reinforced this perception, with an
unacceptable loss of life. Today, the loss of even one life is considered
unacceptable. It has also taken many years to shake this 'flying by the seat of
the pants' attitude from the public image of the pilot profession. Some pilots
may even feel that the job of flying is less attractive as a consequence.
Attitudes have changed for many reasons. In some
sense, we have simply 'moved on', but there are other real and practical
reasons why Human Factors are now the focus of so much attention. These are (of
course): safety, safety and safety. Indeed, Safety is at the heart of
aviation's growth. Without safety, there is nothing. Public confidence in
aviation is critically dependent on safety and commercial growth depends upon
public confidence.
The Development of Human Factors
Human Factors encompasses many activities and is
not simply defined. Its beginnings in Airbus are based on the results of
practical experiment and testing and of listening to pilots needs - simply so
that they can do their job right.
In Airbus, Human Factors began as early as the
development of the A300 B2/B3 aircraft. It was by careful iteration in design
process and its implementation and in constant attention to pilot needs, that
this aircraft evolved into the A300 FFCC in 1983. This, in turn, lead us to
introduce digital computers, CRT, integrated AFS on the A300-600 and the
A310.
We took this a stage further, with the
development of the A320 and the introduction of the 'Family Concept' which
transformed the development of Airbus aircraft, a process now carried through
to the A330/340. This has proven to be a powerful commercial benefit to Airbus
as a whole, as well as a major step forward in aviation safety. The operational
advantages of common cockpit, the possibilities of MFF and the benefits of Fly
By Wire are now all seemingly self-evident.
With the development of the A320, came a clearer
identification of the pilot's needs and a proper analysis of the four key task
performed by the pilot in the aircraft, that is, to:
- Operate
- Navigate
- Communicate and
- Manage
With this clearer understanding, we entered a
new era of Human Factors (HF) and of the Human Computer Interface (HCI).
The Primary causes of aircraft accidents are
well known and well documented. Over 70% of all accidents are linked to flight
operations i.e. to the role and performance of the pilot. Yet the remainder of
accidents are linked to equipment, maintenance and airport/ATC problems. All
involve humans (machines are, of course, designed and built by humans). Hence,
Human Factors are involved in 100% of all accidents!
Human Factors Policy
Airbus aims to develop and refine its human
factors policy to address the initial design of an aircraft through to the
final stages of customer support. It is an Airbus objective to cover the entire
life of an aircraft. Naturally, we can only cover that which is within the
scope of our activities. These activities cover the following domains:
- Design
- Operations
- Training
- Maintenance and
- Communications.
Within Airbus, Human Factors are addressed
within the framework of our Human Factors Operational Group (HFOP) which
ensures feedback between these domains, ensures that we develop a coherent
policy between domains and seeks an integrated approach to Human Factors at all
times. In a word, "consistency". The Human Factors Operational Group consist of
members from ALL Partners' Design offices (not just restricted to Airbus
companies), Flight operations Support, Engineering Departments, Customer
Services and the Certification Department. The mission of this group is to
provide and achieve the right level of synergy between operational and human
factors expertise.
Human Factors Objectives
For many accidents types, we have a clear
picture of the path to such an accident and the sequence of events that must go
wrong for catastrophe to occur. We understand the holes in our operations and
the deficiencies that define the path of an accident. Our task is then to
remove or displace these deficiencies so that there is no clear path that may
lead to such an event.
We arrange our Human Factors organisation in
each domain as follows:
Design
The Design Domain's objective is to ensure a
coherent Cockpit Design Philosophy. The Design Team personnel involved in HF
activities typically consist of:
- HF expertise and specialities within the
Design Offices
- Flight Test Pilots (AI/EA)
- Airworthiness engineers (AI/EA)
The Design group address Human Factors within
the design process by examining:
- Human error and performance
- Situational awareness
- Automation
- Crew cooperation activities
- Physical ergonomics
- Workload
Operations
Operational personnel involved in Human Factors
activities include:
- Flight Operations Engineers
- Flight Test and Training Pilots (AI/EV and
AI/ET)
Typically, operations personnel address issues
that are related to:
- Documentation
- Operational Standards (e.g. Standard
Operational Procedures)
- Operational Feedback
- Specific studies
- Feedback to all other activities.
Operational feedback itself, typically includes:
AIRS (Air Incident Reporting Systems), HF reports and Air Safety reports. The
specific studies carried out might also include contentious issues such as:
pilot alertness, napping in the cockpit, vigilance etc.
Training
The training domain consists of HF experts,
pilots and training instructors (AI/BT-BA AI/BT-T). Their activities are
organised on two levels, that is: trainee and instructor. They will typically
examine issues related to:
At Trainee level
- Course contents
- Crew Resource Management (CRM)
implementation
- HF specialities
At Instructor level:
- Internal training
- Teaching tools
- Trainee performance assessment
Maintenance
The maintenance domain consists of Customer
Services and Design Office HF specialists (AI/SE). They typically address
issues such as:
- Documentation
- Training definition
- In-service data and feedback collection
- Feedback to all other activities
The collection of feedback data employs set up
and reporting tools to assist the process.
Communications
Having organized so much Human Factors effort in
the various technical disciplines, it is then essential to ensure that there is
wide distribution of Human Factors philosophy, so that everyone is aware of the
need for and operation of the HF policy. Distribution is very wide indeed, and
includes:
External:
- Airlines
- Unions
- Scientific communities
- Regulatory authorities
Internal
Methodology and Process
Airbus has taken pro-active steps to develop
Human Factors throughout its activities and to promote the policy and benefits
widely. Commitment to the Human Factors policy at Airbus begins at the top with
the formal policy signed off by the highest levels of Airbus management. Key
steps taken include:
- Formal commitment of Airbus to Human Factors
Policy
- The creation of a Human Factors Plan
- Human Factors activities structured within
Airbus
- Human Factors Group launched in March
1997.
Airbus has developed its Human Factors
methodology to ensure it is fully applied to:
Defining aircraft design, including:
- Maintainability
- Operational procedures
- Flight and maintenance crew training
- Evaluation in the various phases of aircraft
design
We have gone a step further in the publication
of the Airbus "Cockpit Philosophy" in a single document. This book fully
describes all the rules, guidelines and criteria applied to the design and
definition of our fly by wire aircraft family.
A final step in this process is to increase the
Human Factors competence of all involved personnel. We have undertaken a
substantial training programme, which we regard with the highest importance and
an essential step in the implementation of our human Factors policy. The aim of
this training programme is to:
Increase Airbus Human Factors Competence by:
- HF training of 30 engineers
- Qualification of 8 experts
- Cooperation with a set of Universities
specializing in HF
- Cooperation with Research Centres
Perhaps the most daunting aspect of Airbus'
commitment to Human Factors was a formal and independent audit of its Human
Factors policy by a team of 5 International Human Factors experts from various
domains, in order to assess our Human Factors Plan and its implementation. We
were encouraged by the results of this audit.
Conclusion
Human Factors is not new, but its formalisation
in aviation has provided a major focus for improving safety. Deep consideration
has been given in Airbus to Human Factors at all levels of the organisation and
for all its activities. To quote from the Airbus Human Factors Plan: "Airbus
Industrie leadership in the high technology aircraft market will be reinforced
by a willing commitment to the application of a solid Human Factors policy".
All of this is to the benefit of increased safety. |
