Preventing the Unpredictable: An Integrated Human Factors Approach to Reducing Aviation Accidents in the Era of Advanced Flight Technology

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@article{1719259,
      author = {Okebu Daniel Tobechukwu Chukwuemeka, Munashe Naphtali Mupa},
      title = {Preventing the Unpredictable: An Integrated Human Factors Approach to Reducing Aviation Accidents in the Era of Advanced Flight Technology},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {9},
      number = {12},
      pages = {3168-3181},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1719259.pdf},
      abstract = {Advanced flight technology has made aviation safer, more capable, and more information-rich, yet it has not removed the human factor from accident causation. Modern cockpits, avionics suites, automation modes, flight management systems, electronic checklists, traffic alerting systems, weather products, and data-driven safety tools can strengthen pilot performance when they are understood and managed properly. However, the same technologies can also introduce new forms of complexity: mode confusion, automation complacency, data overload, alert fatigue, degraded manual-flying proficiency, and mismatches between cockpit information and crew mental models. This paper develops an integrated human factors framework for reducing aviation accidents in technology-rich operations. The study uses public aviation safety evidence, including NTSB accident data availability, Kaggle/NTSB-derived accident datasets, FAA aeronautical decision-making and instructor guidance, IATA 2024 contributing-factor statistics, ICAO 2025 safety reporting, and Boeing commercial jet accident summaries. It then develops a risk-scoring and training-analytics model that links human factors domains to operational phases, advanced technology contexts, and competency-based training interventions. Because personally identifiable flight-training records are not publicly available, the model uses a public-data-informed synthetic training observation layer to demonstrate how flight schools and operators can transform safety signals into non-punitive early-warning interventions. The findings show that the highest-priority risk intersections arise around approach, landing/go-around, abnormal events, automation mode awareness, manual flight-path control, SOP discipline, situational awareness, and weather-threat management. The paper concludes that aviation safety in the advanced technology era should be governed through integrated human factors controls, data-informed scenario training, safety management feedback loops, explainable risk scoring, and recurrent training that treats technology as a human-machine team member rather than a substitute for disciplined airmanship.},
      keywords = {Aviation Safety, Human Factors, Automation, Aeronautical Decision-Making, Crew Resource Management; Safety Management Systems, Predictive Training Analytics, Flight Instruction, Risk Management, Advanced Flight Technology.},
      month = {June},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I12-1719259}
  }