Human Factors in Aviation

When I think of Human Factors in the Aviation industry, what comes to mind is how these mental and physical barriers can prevent you and your co workers from getting the job done efficiently and correctly. So my working definition of Human Factors is; Anything physical, or mental that can cause lapse in concentration or judgement which will lead to damage or injury to you or others around you. On the aspect of how human factors can affect how certain jobs get done in your workplace, changing a turbine engine to me seems like something that has a high rate of risk and possible harm that can be done. This is a task which you will never do by yourself, or at least you shouldn't be trying to attempt something like this by yourself. There are many things that can go wrong when removing or installing an engine into the aircraft. This is why it is paramount that you or your co-workers do not have or show any of the traits that they call part of "The Dirty Dozen." 

Definitely one of the bigger challenges to deal with when removing and installing engines is complacency and lack of awareness. When you do a task so many times, complacency kicks in and you tend to want to take shortcuts or tend to not look at the tech data as much when doing this task, which can lead to harsh consequences. Lack of awareness is the other big challenge because most people when they are jobbing out, they tend to zone out or get tunnel vision on the task at hand and may not be aware that something bad is about to happen that can cause an injury or damage the aircraft/engine. These two, amongst other problems are the reason why engine work can be stressful and nerve racking sometimes. 

Reference:

FAA, n.d. Human Factors. Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved from: 

https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/courses/content/258/1097/AMT_Handbook_Addendum_Human_Factors.pdf