Air Traffic Control: Human Performance Factors

From the Foreword by Captain Daniel Maurino, ICAO: '...Air Traffic Control...will remain a technology-intensive system. People (controllers) must harmoniously interact with technology to contribute to achieve the aviation system’s goals of safe and efficient transportation of passengers and cargo...This book...considers human error and human factors from a contemporary and operational perspective and discusses the parts as well as the whole...I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.' The motivation for writing this book comes from the author’s long standing belief that the needs of Air Traffic Service personnel are inadequately represented in the aviation literature. There are few references to air traffic control in many of the books written for pilots and about pilots and this is also observed at the main international conferences. In line with the ICAO syllabus for human factors training for air traffic controllers, the book covers the main issues in air traffic control, with regard to human performance: physiology including stress, fatigue and shift work problems; psychology with emphasis on human error and its management, social psychology including issues of communication and working in teams, the environment including ergonomic principles and working with new technologies and hardware and software issues including the development of documentation and procedures and a study of the changes brought about by advanced technologies. Throughout the text there are actual examples taken from the air traffic control environment to illustrate the issues discussed. A full bibliography is included for those who want to read beyond these issues. It has been written for all in air traffic services, from ab initio to the boardroom; it is important that the men and women in senior management positions have some knowledge and awareness of the fundamental problems that limit and enhance human performance.

Dr Anne Isaac works with the human factors group at EUROCONTROL. Belgium. She previously lectured at Otago University and Massey University, School of Aviation, New Zealand. Her research work, for the last 16 years, has been concerned with human performance in ATC and focuses on imagery, mental models and error. She has been involved with training, incident investigation and other performance issues in both Australia and New Zealand and spent a year with Dedale in Paris developing the ATC Team Resource Management programme for Europe. Bert Ruitenberg has represented the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA) in the human factors field since 1992. He is a regular speaker at human factors conferences, seminars and symposia organized by the aviation industry (eg ICAO, EUROCONTROL) and the scientific community (eg Ohio State University, Australian Aviation Psychology Association). He works as an air traffic controller at Schiphol Airport (tower and approach radar control), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.