A complex network approach to aviation accident analysis

Griffin, Thomas G.C., Young, Mark S. and Stanton, Neville A. (2007) A complex network approach to aviation accident analysis. Bust, Philip D. (ed.) In Contemporary Ergonomics 2007. Routledge. pp. 67-72 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

In aviation, even relatively simple tasks comprise numerous human and non-human agents, dispersed geographically and temporally, with emergent properties which are often difficult to predict. As such, aviation can be thought of as a complex system, and analyzing accidents and incidents in this domain requires a complex approach to fully understand the integration of multi-causal, multi-linear and multi-agent accident sequences. The Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork methodology (EAST; Stanton et al., 2005) offers such an approach, but has not yet been used in accident analysis. In the present paper, EAST is applied to a well known aviation accident case study. Communication between agents in the network is highlighted as a central theme of accident causation and the potential for finding key agents through such network models and sequences is investigated. Ultimately, this work aims to provide a new model which can highlight key factors distinguishing accidents and incidents from normal operations.

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