February ‘25
A Start to the Year Marked by Tragedy
The aviation community has been shaken by a series of deadly accidents since the beginning of 2025, highlighting the persistent challenges of safety in evolving airspace. In South Korea, a tragic crash claimed multiple lives, raising concerns about operational risks. A devastating mid-air collision over Washington, D.C., underscored the dangers of congested airspace, while a medical evacuation helicopter crash in Philadelphia reignited discussions on emergency transport safety.
As investigations unfold, these events serve as stark reminders of the importance of continued advancements in human factors, training, and technology to mitigate risks and enhance safety in modern aviation.
ASPIRE conference
The next HFES conference will be held in Chicago, IL on October 13 - 17, 2025.
The call for papers is now open! You can submit your extended abstract until February 13, 2025.
We are also seeking peer reviewers for the conference. If you're interested, please complete this form to indicate your expertise and areas of interest: HFES Reviewer Signup.
The deadline to fill out the reviewer form is Saturday, February 15. To ensure consistency, all HFES technical groups are using a single form for reviewer recruitment. When signing up, you can select Aerospace TG to review papers for our section, as well as any other TGs of interest. Program chairs will coordinate assignments to balance the total number of abstracts each reviewer is responsible for. HFES will provide guidance materials to support reviewers in conducting fair and constructive evaluations. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the conference and gain valuable peer-review experience!
New publications
Predictive Flightcrew Human Error Analysis
By the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA)
GAMA recently published its recommended methodology for conducting flight crew error analysis. It is intended to support the analysis of predictive human errors (i.e., errors that have not yet been observed but that could happen) to show compliance with regulations 25.1302 (d) and 25.1309 (c). GAMA and the Joint Authorities Technical Review recommended developing such a method following the 737 MAX accidents.
This is a task-based method, similar to the Human Error Template (HET), and it offers a systematic approach to the analysis. GAMA’s report stresses to identify the assumptions used at the start of the analysis: aircraft condition, presence of MEL items, phase of flight, etc.
One starts with a task analysis describing the list of actions the crew must do e.g., set HYD 2A to OFF. Then, for each action, the analyst uses an error taxonomy and identifies potential flight crew errors. Using HET’s taxonomy, this would give errors such as task execution in the wrong direction (ex. set HYD 2A to ON), task executed on the wrong interface element (ex. set HYD 2B to OFF), and so on. Given the error is committed, the analyst describes its effects on the flight deck such that the crew could detect the error, and its severity if the error is undetected and uncorrected. The interesting part of GAMA’s method is to evaluate whether such an error warrants a mitigation mechanism to prevent it from happening (ex. design change, procedure change, or CRM coordination). If so, then the error is analyzed once again but this time taking into account the mitigation mechanism.
A template is provided in the appendix, with each column being a step in the analysis separating what is done with and without mitigations. Finally, in the context of 1309 (c), EASA asks to validate the assumptions used regarding the pilot's ability to detect and recover from the event.
This method gives clear instructions on how to conduct error analysis in a certification context. One of its limitations is to look at only one error at a time, which misses the impacts of cumulative errors. System-based methods should be considered for this purpose ex. FRAM, Net-HARMS and AcciMap. It would be interesting to investigate to what extent system-based methods can be used for certification compliance.
(Preprint) Human Factors Requirements for Human-AI Teaming in Aviation
By Barry Kirwan
This report covers a lot of ground on what to consider for effective human-AI teaming (HAT) in the aviation domain. The background section covers the historical development of AI from the 1950s up to this day and puts into perspective the 6 categories of HAT presented in EASA’s concept paper. It then does the same for human factors engineering going through the seminal corpus of human-centered automation and accident analysis. Following this extensive review, Kirwan proposes a framework to integrate human factors considerations into AI development with its core tenets (context awareness, goal awareness, effective communication, proactiveness, predictability, and observability) and 10 human factors requirements. Finally, Kirwan shows how the framework and its requirements were successfully applied in a recent HAIKU project to detect the pilot’s startle effect and direct the pilot’s attention back to the task using eye tracking. It is worth mentioning that HAIKU is an EU-sponsored research consortium investigating 6 use cases of IA in aviation.
AI Pilot in the Cockpit: An Investigation of Public Acceptance
By Shan Gaoa, Zhuoran Lub, Hao Luana, Ming Yinb, and Lei Wang.
The study investigated public acceptance of Single pilot operations (SPO) for commercial flights that could be supported by AI assistance. A total of n=595 respondents from China completed the online survey and were assigned to one of four scenarios (2 x 2 between subjects): Single pilot or Dual pilot x with or without AI assistance. Each scenario consisted of a vignette describing the flight and participants rated their perception of fear, anxiety, trust, risk acceptance, and willingness to ride. For example, the vignette for SPO without AI assistance was: “Imagine that you are a passenger and planning to take a flight to your destination. This flight will be controlled by a captain in the cockpit and a remote operator on the ground. They have the average flying performance as other human crews.”
The main findings show that for SPO scenarios, respondents reported more negative emotion, less trust, less risk acceptance, and reduced willingness to ride. Surprisingly, the risk acceptance for SPO scenarios did not change with or without AI assistance. However, for the dual pilot scenarios, risk acceptance was lower with AI assistance than without.
Other research published recently includes:
New book
Aerospace Psychology and Human Factors: Applied Methods and Techniques
Edited by: Ioana V. Koglbauer, Sonja Biede-Straussberger
Hogrefe has just released their latest book on aerospace human factors. Each chapter is written by leading authors and researchers on the topic. It covers applied human factors engineering for aircraft cabin design, development of explainable systems to the flight crew, using eye tracking techniques to monitor the pilot’s attention, and organization factors to be mindful of in the aviation industry. It also has three chapters on using extended reality for training and a case study on using the first AI crew assistant for space flight.
News
Space
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket achieved orbit on its long-awaited first launch on Jan. 16, although the company failed in its attempt to recover the first stage.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered wave ripples on Mars, suggesting shallow lakes existed around 3.7 billion years ago. These ripples, shaped by wind-driven water, indicate the planet once had a warm, dense atmosphere capable of supporting liquid water—and possibly microbial life. This finding extends Mars’ habitable timeline, reshaping our understanding of its past. After 13 years of exploration, Curiosity continues to reveal clues about the planet’s history, from sulfur fields to frozen dunes. If life once existed there, is interplanetary archaeology our next frontier?
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has sent back data after its record-breaking closest approach to the Sun on Christmas Eve, reaching speeds of 430,000 mph and coming within 6.1 million km of the surface. All systems are functioning normally, and the probe is delivering insights into solar winds and the corona’s extreme temperatures. These findings could improve our understanding of space weather, benefiting satellite operations and aviation systems. This milestone showcases human ingenuity and cutting-edge technology, with potential impacts across multiple industries.
Starship upper stage lost on seventh test flight
SpaceX’s seventh Starship/Super Heavy test flight ended prematurely on Jan. 16 when the Starship upper stage was lost while ascending into space. While the booster successfully landed, the upper stage was lost and was later spotted breaking up on reentry.
Aviation
Honeywell will split Aerospace and Automation into different companies.
Honeywell announced on Feb 6 that it is splitting into three independently listed companies, breaking up one of America's last standing conglomerates. The full separation of Automation and Aerospace Technologies is expected to take place in the second half of 2026. Aerospace Technologies will continue to expand its portfolio of propulsion, cockpit, and navigation systems, as well as auxiliary power systems. In 2024, the aerospace division generated $15 billion in revenue and is Honeywell's biggest revenue generator, accounting for about 40% of the company's total revenue. It counts Boeing and Airbus among its customers.
XB-1, the first civil supersonic jet made in America, broke the sound barrier for the first time on January 28, 2025, from the Mojave Air and Spaceport. The aircraft achieved supersonic speed three times during the flight. You can rewatch the 2-hr live recording on Boom’s website. We can all share chief test pilot Brandenburg’s excitement for this accomplishment.
Autonomy
U.S. Army Evaluates Optionally Piloted Flight Deck for Helicopters
The U.S. Army is assessing the potential benefits of incorporating optionally piloted capabilities into its helicopter operations. This initiative aims to enhance operational efficiency by decreasing pilot training time. On January 14, Skyryse announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, initiating a project to investigate the integration of its SkyOS universal operating system into the Army's fleet of 2,400 Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters, as well as other rotorcraft.
Skyports' First UAE Vertiport Gets Technical Design Approval
Skyports has received technical design approval from the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to build its first commercial vertiport for eVTOL air taxi flights in Dubai. The vertiport will operate Joby Aviation's four-passenger eVTOL aircraft and is expected to commence commercial operations by late 2026. Under an exclusive agreement awarded by the Dubai government, Joby will operate eVTOL air taxi services in Dubai for six years. The Dubai International Vertiport (DXV) will initially feature four vertiports, each equipped with two takeoff and landing pads and an aircraft charger. The facility will also include a three-story, 33,000-square-foot structure.
Airbus suspends its plan to bring CityAirbus eVTOL to market
Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, explained that the battery performance does not offer the level of autonomy expected for their eVTOL vehicle. Despite suspending the CityAirbus commercial release, initially planned around 2030, Airbus continues its research on advanced air mobility and its electric rotorcraft Racer, which flew up to 227 knots in recent tests. In parallel, Bruno Even shared that Airbus Helicopters saw a +10% increase in orders from ‘23 to ‘24.
Vertical Aerospace completed its second phase of flight testing with the full-scale VX4 eVTOL prototype. They released a 1-min video showing the vehicle performing thrustborne hover at the Cotswold Airport in England. The next phase in VX4 flight testing is to expand the flight envelope and transition from vertical to horizontal flight.
Air Traffic Management
SKYbrary has published its yearly magazine with contributions from researchers, ATC practitioners, and pilots. The theme is all about staying in control and touches on different types of collaborations with automation (in the loop, on the loop, out of the loop), automation management strategies from Canadian ATCs, lessons learned from operations, and how to manage surprise and startle effects. The magazine is free and makes for a good read during your commute or leisure time.
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Srishti Rawal
Graduate student in cognitive engineering
Department of Industrial Engineering
Polytechnique Montreal
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