Pilot-Related Factors Involved in Runway Incursions: An Epidemiological Approach

Objective This research investigates the role of pilot deviation in runway incursions, a persistent safety risk for aviation safety.Background Despite many research efforts focusing primarily on the evaluation of advanced technical systems as mitigation solutions, there remains a significant lack of studies investigating the central figure in this issue: the pilot, as well as the underlying human factors and mitigating circumstances that contribute to runway incursions.Method An in-depth analysis of incident and accident reports from 1993 to 2021, sourced from both Australia and the United States was employed. A comprehensive codebook was developed to capture key information for investigating significant relationships between variables. An extended taxonomy derived from the U.S. Department of Defence - DoD HFACS was used to systematically analyze pilot-related causal factors.Results The results highlight critical causal factors from a human factors perspective, with wide-ranging issue such as miscommunication being prevalent. Statistically significant relationships were observed between the severity of runway incursions and other key factors.Conclusion The study underscores the importance of considering pilot-related causal factors of runway incursions to gain better understanding of potential mitigation solutions.