Designing to control flight crew errors

It is widely accepted that human error is a major contributing factor in aircraft accidents. This research has led to the call for changes in design according to human factors and human-centered principles. The NASA´s Langley Research Center has initiated an effort to design a human-centered flight deck from a clean slate (i.e., without constraints of existing designs). The effort will be based on recent research in human-centered design philosophy and mission management categories. This design will match the human´s model of the mission and function of the aircraft to reduce unnatural or nonintuitive interfaces. The product of this effort will be a flight deck design description, including training and procedures, and a cross reference or paper trail back to design hypotheses, and an evaluation of the design. This paper discusses the philosophy, process and status of this design effort