Citation

Baksteen B. Safety Sci. 1995; 19(2-3): 287-294.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Airline pilots are active at the operational end of transportation, which you could also call the receiving end when discussing accidents. In other words, for many safety or subjects related to safety are interesting and challenging topics in scientific terms. For airline pilots, safety is literally matter of life and death. And not only for the passengers. Pilots promise their passengers a safe flight and by sharing that flight with the passengers, they provide the ultimate guarantee: their own life. That goes a few steps beyond putting your money where your mouth is.Aviation is pretty new. Once people like the Wright brothers overcame the initial technical problems of manned flight, and flying became a mode of transportation, it needed an organizational structure. A lot was then copied from shipping. We still use nautical miles and we still carry red lights on port and green lights on the starboard side of our aircraft. However, the air-ocean is even more unforgiving of mistakes and ignorance than the cruel sea. So we had to develop additional procedures and deeper insights into the causes behind accidents to survive. What we learned and what I will address in this paper might very well be useful for other modes of transportation too. While we started out with receiving information only, we are now ready to repay our debt and give some information back. At the same time, we are eager to receive any information that could help us further on the way to our common goal: safe transportation.