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.