Citation

Baird JA, Dudfield HJ. Vis. Veh. 1996; 5: 253-260.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the event of an incident occurring on a civilian aircraft, aircrew have standard procedures and instrument checks to follow. In most cases, this is sufficient for them to analyze the situation properly and carry out corrective action. It is inevitable, however, that in times of high stress indicators may be missed. The information required may simply be absent, or be inadequately presented. One possible approach to this problem may be to train cabin crew for better communication, since they may be able to observe signs on the airframe that would enhance interpretation of the situation. Cabin crew could tell the aircrew if they see a problem that the aircrew cannot view from the cockpit. However, social psychology studies on the "bystander effect" suggest that issues of hierarchy and divided responsibilities are likely to block effective communication. This paper discusses the human factors of external cameras for civilian aircraft that would allow cockpit crew to view essential areas of the aircraft.