Influencing Factors on Error Reporting in Aviation - A Scenario-Based Approach

As crew reports represent an important data source for safety management in aviation, the present study investigated influencing factors on error reporting using a scenario-based approach with 33 prototypical aviation scenarios including eleven threat categories and three risk levels (low, medium, high). Ninety-three pilots from eight countries participated in an online survey to assess their attitude towards reporting. The results show that errors attributed to environmental factors are said to be reported more often than errors related to the individual pilot, e.g. proficiency (d = 2.29). High-risk events are more often reported than low-risk events (d = 3.54) and medium-risk events (d = 1.86). Airlines should promote the appreciation of reports about individual related errors and events with low risks.