Heavy traffic in aviation is the reason behind many accidents as on an average an airport sustains a landing or a take-off every two minutes. While airlines offer the best opportunities, pilots face strong competition for the jobs. At the same time airlines seek to make bigger profits, and, in the climate of fierce competition, the utilisation of their main assets (aircraft and people) is stretched to the maximum. Lack of experienced pilots, oversupply of young cadets and increasing air traffic flows face airlines with important decisions: to hire the most experienced pilot or a less experienced one, but with a lower salary and how to ensure the safety in this situation?
Although, both aircraft and pilots are facing ever increasing stress loads, these are not equally measured. An aircraft is checked in detail every turnaround, whereas pilot skills and condition is examined only twice a year. That might be the reason why only a small percentage of aviation accidents happen due to a technical failure and human error is highlighted as the primary cause of more than 70 percent of all commercial airplane accidents.
“The most important determinant when hiring pilots is how qualified and experienced they are to face a situation where human factor matters a lot. Many pilots at major airlines have far more than 1,500 hours flight experience which is a lot of practice for young cadets. However, some airlines form short haul routes offer cheaper fares in part by hiring less experienced pilots and paying them lower salaries”, – says Skaiste Knyzaite, the CEO of AviationCV.com.
Other vital factors that contribute to pilot errors are tiredness and loss of concentration. Aviation industry has experienced a technological breakthrough in developing an instrument which guides the pilot accurately during cruise and landing. However, the crew still needs to be trained adequately to be able to use duplicate systems necessary to fly or land an aircraft safely.
In order to minimise a chance of human error, airlines compose manuals aimed at setting up standard operating and emergency procedures for pilots and flight crew to follow. They have implemented fatigue management systems that help to ensure that the crew is fully rested, in good condition and able to concentrate and react in a non standard situation.