Designing to control flight crew errors

It is widely accepted that human error is a major contributing factor in aircraft accidents. This research has led to the call for changes in design according to human factors and human-centered principles. The NASA's Langley Research Center has initiated an effort to design a human-centered flight deck from a clean slate (i.e., without constraints of existing designs). The effort will be based on recent research in human-centered design philosophy and mission management categories. This design will match the human's model of the mission and function of the aircraft to reduce unnatural or nonintuitive interfaces. The product of this effort will be a flight deck design description, including training and procedures, and a cross reference or paper trail back to design hypotheses, and an evaluation of the design. This paper discusses the philosophy, process and status of this design effort.