Human Engineering Design Deficiencies and Related Operator Errors in Naval Air Weapons Systems

Abstract

Engineering design deficiencies reported during Board of Inspection and Survey Trials involving the P-3 and S-3 aircraft were examined to determine deficiencies of a human engineering nature. The critical incident technique was used to catalogue, describe, and analyze these human engineering design deficiencies in both aircraft. From the 231 P-3 and 540 S-3 recorded deficiencies, 104 P-3 and 224 S-3 human engineering deficiencies emerged. These human engineering deficiencies were categorized according to (a) related system components, (b) design principle infractions, and (c) related operator errors. This categorization procedure provided a relative comparison of the most prevalent types of system component deficiencies, violations of human engineering design principles, and design induced operator errors. The system related deficiencies were sorted into 10 system component categories. Display and control components accounted for 78 percent and 75 percent of the P-3 and S-3 total human engineering design deficiencies, respectively. The results of this investigation suggest that, although the airframes of the two aircraft are dissimilar, there is a basic similarity in their number and types of human engineering design deficiencies. Also, design induced operator errors were different in relative frequency than was found by earlier investigators.