Aviation: Air Safety and Mechanical Failure Essay

Submitted By abdullahshahid1
Words: 765
Pages: 4

Assessment Task 2

Reference details for source:

Edem G. Tetteh, 2006, ‘Human Factors Analysis of Commercial Aircraft Accidents in the United States: 1960-2000’, Institute of Industrial Engineer-Publishers, Norcross, USA

Steps taken to locate the source:

* First go to the website www.uts.edu.au. * Then to UTS Library * Select “Find Databases” * Then select the subject as Engineering and select Mechanical Engineering in that section. * Use “Science and Technology ProQuest” to search database * Type in the search bar; “Aviation disasters due to mechanical failure”.

Summary:
The article compares the two main leading causes of the aviation disasters that occur during the past years. Firstly, the most influencing and leading factor that causes aviation disaster is Human Error. Secondly, the major cause to these fatal accidents is mechanical faults and failures of the aircraft.
“In the year 1998 alone, 1907 general aviation aircrafts were involved in accidents. Three hundred sixty one of the accidents resulted in fatal injuries with 621 fatalities”.
The article analyses the possible outcome of these incidents using records of databases. Due to several accidents in one year, manufacturing designs of the aircraft were also taken into consideration for safety purposes. The previous databases showed that 64% of the accidents that have occurred is due to human error as compared to mechanical failure that is 22%. The article also suggests the safety measures after verifying the given facts and the figures. Well-designed aircrafts with highly efficient technology is preferred to reduce any kind of mechanical failure. At the same time experienced training should be given to pilots to minimize human error in these accidents. The frequency of accidents and number of causalities resulting from human error is highest than any other cause. The main reason for these tragedic figures is that pilots are not properly trained for making undesirable decisions. For this additional approaches should be made and pilots should learn from previous disastrous accidents. The perspective that is missing from the study is that neither the instrumental conditions of the aircraft are described nor the natural conditions such as airport location is highlighted. These aspects are necessary for evaluating pilot decision at the time of the disaster.

Currency:
The article is almost recent and was published in the year 2006.

Relevance:
The article is relevant to the topic and covers most of the desired material. All the major points in the article are described in the light of the topic.

Purpose: The main objective of this article is to evaluate and analyze the possible outcomes of these incidents. The author is trying to alarm the audience about the certain lapses, mentioned in the above perspective, that results in major disasters.

Use of evidence:
The author has provided references from sources of other authors to support and provide facts with relevant reasons. These references are as follows:
1. Baker, P., Lamb, W., Grabowski, G. and Rebok, W., 2002, "Human factors in aviation crash involving older pilots," Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 73,134-138
2. Endsley, M. and Garland, D., 2000,