Human Factors (Operational)
Decisions and pressures outside the flight deck — dispatch, loading, scheduling, air traffic services, company culture — that shaped the outcome.
Operational human factors cover the organisation around the flight: how it was planned, loaded, crewed and supported. Load-sheet errors, fuel policy, commercial pressure to complete a sector, rostering that produced a fatigued crew, and air traffic instructions all live here.
These findings usually produce the most far-reaching safety actions, because they apply to every flight the operator runs rather than to one crew on one night.
Related terms
Crew Resource Management: how a flight deck uses all the people and information available to it. CRM breakdowns are about communication, workload and authority, not stick-and-rudder skill.
A formal proposal from the investigators to a regulator or operator. Recommendations are not binding — the regulator decides what to mandate.