Regional Airline Safety
In the past, airlines have relied mainly on accident and investigation reports to further their understanding of safety and performance. However, these reports only capture rare and dramatic events and, whilst sometimes discovering systemic shortcomings, are only useful in a proactive sense if the findings are representative of events and behaviours in normal operations. Worldwide airline accident data indicate that whilst causal factors vary, approximately sixty percent of accidents involve flight crew error. Accident rates are significantly higher in regional airlines when compared to major carriers. The University of Texas and the LOSA Collaborative have developed a technique for exploring the safety of normal operations using the taxonomy of Threat and Error Management. Associate Professor Patrick Murray is currently involved in collaborative research which specifically looks at crew performance in Regional Airlines.
Complex Skills Assessment in Airline Operations
This area of research in the field of complex skills assessment has included research into how senior airline captains see competency. In particular, this work is specifically focused on pilots under going promotion to airline captain. His other areas of interest are education and training in airline operations. Tim Mavin is also currently involved in research into complex skills assessment in airline operations, with a focus on airline pilot performance.
Other research
Associate Professor Paul Bates has a long term interest in student learning, especially group learning aand interpersonal skills. Associate Professor Bates is currently looking at student engagement in developing appropriate professional skills to equip them as Airline Pilots. He is also supervising research projects in the following areas:
- Safety of Regional Airlines;
- Decision making in Aviation;
- Cultural effects on the flight deck and efficiency and effectiveness in Air Freight operatons; and
- Safety Management System opeationalisation in Airports.