Don Nolan-Proxmire

Headquarters, Washington, DC June 13, 1995

(Phone: 202/358-1983)

RELEASE: 95-91

NASA JOINS FAA AND DOD IN HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH

NASA has joined with the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) in a comprehensive
initiative to apply human factors research to the National
Airspace System. The plan represents an all encompassing
national commitment to making the system safer and less
complicated for the people who use it.

"NASA is proud to work with the FAA and the Department

of Defense in an effort to improve safety in commercial
aviation," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "Since
1976, NASA has managed the Aviation Safety Reporting System for
the FAA. Aviation incidents reported voluntarily and confidentially
by pilots, air traffic controllers and others are combined to form
the world's most comprehensive aviation human factors database,"
he added.

The action plan titled, "The National Plan for Civil

Aviation Human Factors", is compatible with Vice President
Albert Gore's National Science and Technology Council. The
Council outlines a coordinated national agenda to address one
of the principle goals established at the Department of
Transportation's industry-wide Safety Conference last
January: to eliminate accidents and incidents attributed to
human error.

In spite of the success of more sophisticated and

reliable technology, the proportion of human error-related
accidents is still as high as 60 to 80 percent.

The initiative will bring research results to the

operational community. Additionally the plan has three main
goals: identifying operational needs and problems involving
human performance; guiding research programs which address
the human factor; and eliciting the participation of the
nation's top scientists and aviation professionals in
government, private industry and universities.

The plan provides for sharing of research results among

the participating government agencies and the private sector
to increase the speed and efficiency by which new concepts in
human performance can be tested, validated and incorporated
into the national aviation system.

-end-

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