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This thesis makes significant contributions to improving the use of Airport Safety Areas (ASAs) as aviation accident risk mitigation measures by developing improved accident frequency models and risk assessment methodologies. In recent years, the adequacy of ASAs such as the Runway End Safety Area and Runway Safety Area has come under increasing scrutiny. The current research found flaws in the existing ASA regulations and airport risk assessment techniques that lead to the provision of inconsistent safety margins at airports and runways. The research was based on a comprehensive database of ASA-related accidents, which was matched by a representative sample of normal operations data, such that the exposure to a range of operational and meteorological risk factors between accident and normal flights could be compared. On this basis, the criticality of individual risk factors was quantified and accident frequency models were developed using logistic regression. These models have considerably better predictive power compared to models used by previous airport risk assessments. An improved risk assessment technique was developed coupling the accident frequency models with accident location data, yielding distributions that describe the frequency of accidents that reach specific distances beyond the runway end or centreline given the risk exposure profile of the particular runway. The application of the proposed methodology was demonstrated in two case studies. Specific recommendations on ASA dimensions were made for achieving consistent levels of safety on each side of the runway. Advances made in this study have implications on the overall assessment and management of risks at airports.

This study examines the differences between the skills and competencies of New Zealand flight school graduates and the types of skills and competencies believed to define a proficient air transport pilot. In New Zealand the training of professional pilots is directed towards meeting the requirements laid down by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority for the licensing of professional pilots. However, some evidence suggests that competence for licensing purposes does not necessarily meet the requirements of the airlines and the types of skills that they require as a prerequisite to airline training. Although not clearly defined, this shortfall has been recognised for several decades and traditional thinking is that extra flying experience gained as a general aviation pilot will develop the skills necessary for entry into airline pilot training. The importance that pilots of differing experience levels attach to technical and non-technical skills and their perception of the training effectiveness of those skills and how deficiencies in those skills contributed to aircraft accidents was explored by a four stage study including: i) a review and analysis of flight test results obtained from graduate pilots on a university air transport pilot programme; ii) the analysis of responses to questionnaires supplied to three pilot groups within the New Zealand aviation industry; iii) the analysis of air transport aircraft accidents and their primary and contributing causes; and iv) interviews with qualified airline pilots working for New Zealand airlines. The results indicated that throughout the spectrum of experience and qualifications, from student pilot to airline pilot, the technical skill of aircraft handling was highly valued and the training in this skill was considered by all pilots to be satisfactory. In contrast, while non-technical skill deficiencies were found to be primary or contributing factors in many aircraft accidents, less importance was attached to non-technical skills by all pilot groups. The training effectiveness of these skills was rated as only moderately effective or of minimal effectiveness. The findings are discussed and recommendations are made for the improvement of basic flight training. In addition, a model is proposed for the fast tracking of flight school graduates into the airline training schools. Several areas for future research are also proposed.

The general purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between emotional awareness and human error in aviation. A quantitative analysis approach was used to explore this by means of a cross-sectional survey design. The independent variable emotional awareness and the dependent variable human error were contextualised and operationalised. During the empirical phase, biographical information was collected and the Hartmann Emotional Boundary Questionnaire was administered to a purposive sample consisting of 173 aircrew members within the South African Air Force. Factor analysis revealed an eight-factor structure: involved; exactness; blend; openness; structured; unstructured; flexibility; and imagination. No differentiation was found between the mustering groups in relation to emotional awareness and human error. However, correlations differentiated between aircrew with zero human error and aircrew with “more than ten years’ aviation experience”. The test for differences between human error and the emotional awareness sub-construct "imagination" indicated a medium significance. From this relationship, the researcher deducted that “imaginative aircrew are prone to err”. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and organisational Psychology

On Dec. 13, 1977, the University of Evansville men's basketball team, its coaches and other university employees were killed in a plane crash at Dress Regional Airport on the city's north side. Months later, a brash outsider named Dick Walters began rebuilding the basketball program. Four years later, he led the Purple Aces to the school's first Division 1 NCAA tournament. This thesis explores the relationship between the town and the team in the years after the crash.

In December 1978, United Airlines Flight 173 arriving in Portland from Denver with 189 people aboard crash-landed in a suburb at 157th and East Burnside. Ten people were killed and dozens more were injured. The jet ran out of fuel after it had circled for an hour while the crew tried to determine what was wrong with the right main landing gear, which had fallen with a huge double jolt on extension. The investigation that followed the crash placed the blame squarely on the pilot for his negligence in failing to monitor his fuel supply, and secondarily on his crew members, who failed to adequately communicate their concerns about it. The accident was a watershed event in what would become known in the airline industry as crew resource management, a communication model designed to reduce human error by fostering collaborative decision-making and assertiveness training. In the years that have followed the accident, very little has changed in the narrative surrounding it. Articles and docudramas on the plane crash consistently repeat the tale as is, blaming the pilot and shedding no light on the factors that led to the in-flight emergency or on United's role in contributing to the crash. This thesis is a "cold-case" investigation that reveals those contributing factors, which have been so thoroughly ignored. In the words of renowned attorney F. Lee Bailey, "The rule of law requires that all parties who contribute to an accident share in the responsibility for whatever harm has been caused." This is the untold story of all the decisions that brought down United Flight 173, and of the responsibilities heretofore overlooked.

Lam Kwan Heung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-137). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendices in English with some Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii-iv / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Table of Contents --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1-6 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.7-22 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Research Methods --- p.23-35 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- An Overview on Hainan --- p.36-46 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Framing of Hainan --- p.47-92 / Chapter ´Ø --- International law and order / Chapter ´Ø --- U.S. peacekeeping surveillance / Chapter ´Ø --- Victimized U.S / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Framing of China --- p.93-125 / Chapter ´Ø --- China's skewed media / Chapter ´Ø --- China as a problematic communist state / Chapter ´Ø --- China as a secretive military power / Chapter ´Ø --- China's aggression towards Taiwan / Chapter ´Ø --- China's buying off U.S. politicians / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.126-134 / Bibliography --- p.135-137 / Appendices --- p.138-182

Diploma thesis Aircraft and railway accidents in the Czechoslovakia and in the Czech Republic in 1960 - 2008 in the daily press describes ten serious traffic accidents (five airplane and five train accidents), the context and especially the media coverage of these accidents. The thesis describes and compares the media coverage of these accidents in the analysed daily press - in daily newspaper Rude pravo, Pravo, Mlada fronta and Mlada fronta DNES. It shows the changes in the way of media coverage. It also looks for the factors which influenced the way of media coverage. The aim is to show the changes in the methods and results of a work of a journalist and to set them into the historical, political, social and media context. Furthermore, the thesis consists some theoretical parts about aircraft and railway accidents and prevention. The media analysis is contextualised by some relevant media theories and a brief history of media in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic in the analysed period.