Chapter 6
Introduction to Human Factors
1. What are some of the most common causal factors for stress in many people’s lives?
Open-ended answer; as there are many common causal factors of stress. Some possible
Identity the primary things in your life that cause you stress.
What are the main stress symptoms that you experience?
What can you do to reduce stress in your life?
2. Describe the basics of NREM and REM sleep, including the four NREM stages of sleep.
Discussion should go toward NREM sleep consisting of stages 1 through 4 (discussed
below). Each stage will occur in a series of cycles around every 90–100 minutes during
3. Describe your own sleep cycle: How much sleep do you average per night?
How would you describe the quality of sleep that you usually experience?
4. Describe in detail the following human factors models: Reason’s Model (the Swiss
Cheese Model) and the SHEL Model.
Discussion should go toward Reason’s Model describing various organizational
“barriers” in place designed to prevent errors from occurring. Among these barriers are
decisions made by various levels of management, engineering controls (aircraft
5. Respond in detail to the following statement: Technology is not sufficient to overcome
human factors problems, accidents, and issues in aviation. Be as specific as you can in
your response.
6. Define each of the following independently of the other: (a) judgment; (b) decision
making.
Briefly discuss the importance of judgment and decision making in aviation-related
activities and in life.
Discussion should go toward the fact that people make judgments and decisions
Identify at least five of the many different factors that may influence how a person makes
judgments and decisions.
Open-ended discussion that may include time pressure, fatigue, influence of other people,
7. What is situational awareness (SA)?
Discussion should go toward the fact that there are a number of ways to define SA, but
the basic idea is that SA is about being alert in the present environment, knowing when a
change has occurred, and responding appropriately to the change. In the book SA was
considered to have four basic elements:
Briefly describe the importance of remaining situationally aware in aviation activities.
Overall and honestly, how would you describe your personal level of SA?
What specific things can you do to improve SA in your life?
8. What is the systems approach?
Discuss the potential usefulness of the systems approach in an organization’s safety
programs and policies
9. Be honest in answering this question: Which of the five hazardous attitudes do you
display most frequently?
In what types of situations do you display these attitudes?
and impact of these attitudes in your life?
10. Describe the basics of the FAA’s aeronautical decision making (ADM) process.
Discussion should go toward ADM being defined by the FAA as a systematic approach
to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in
11. You have been tasked by divisional leadership in your aviation company with developing
a human factors program for your specific area (i.e., flight operations, aircraft
maintenance, ramp operations, FBO, etc.). What are some of the most important elements
that need to be present in your human factors program?
What specific strategies would you use to address each applicable element? Example:
What would you do specifically to get the employees in your division/department
onboard with the HF program?
In answering this question, speak generally about the basic aspects of virtually any
human factors program (i.e., support of leadership and employees, an HF “champion,”
investigation process, etc.), and then be as specific as you are able in applying to a
department or division within an aviation company.