"It is Human to Err..."

“It is human to err.” With that in mind, it should not come as a shock that approximately 80% of all aircraft accidents can be contributed to human error. Understanding that there was a need for revising current aviation systems to better suit their operators, many different tools were created in order to properly analyze the man to machine interface. I personally believe that the utilization of the SHELL model gives the best man to machine breakdown.

The “S” stands for software: Software has to deal with such things as programs, training, publication, or procedures.

The “H” stands for hardware: Hardware encompasses items that can be physically touched and directly contributes to the flight process. Such things could include gauges, flight equipment, flight simulators, ground support equipment, or the aircraft itself.

The “E” stands for environment: The environment includes the cockpit, weather conditions, and time of day.

The two “L’s” stand for liveware: The first liveware element deals with all persons directly or indirectly involved in the flight process excluding the pilot. These people could range from the passengers onboard the aircraft, maintenance personnel, supervisors, or air traffic control. The second liveware element is dedicated to the pilot. Such things that the pilot could contribute to would be the level of training received, experience in a given platform, or their physical and mental abilities.

By relating accident information to the SHELL model, engineers and those researching probable faults that may have led to the mishap have been able to find ways to fix such problems and initiate the redevelopment of the machine to better suit its operator. Such changes have been made like the converting of confusing gauge clusters and readouts to glass cockpits, which would cover the software, hardware, and environmental elements. Glass cockpits allow the pilot to view more information in a single glance and give an opportunity to conform information placement between different aviation platforms.