Definition
A mistake, lapse, or incorrect action made by a pilot or other operator during the conduct of flight, particularly in the perception, interpretation, or response to flight instruments and aircraft systems. In instrument flying, human error commonly refers to errors in cross-checking, interpreting, or acting on instrument indications.
Plain English
A mistake made by the pilot, rather than a failure of the aircraft or its equipment. It includes things like misreading an instrument, missing a scan, or making the wrong control input.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument flying discussions when a pilot misses an instrument indication, checks the instruments poorly, makes a wrong control input, or makes a poor decision while flying by reference to instruments.
Derivation
Human comes from a Latin word meaning “of a person.” Error comes from a Latin word meaning “to wander” or “go wrong.” Together, the term points to something going wrong because of a person’s action or judgment.
Why Pilots Care
Recognizing human error as a predictable part of instrument flying allows pilots to build stronger scan habits and use automation or procedures as safeguards.
Intuition Check
Human error does not mean the pilot is stupid, careless, or a bad pilot. It means a person in the system made a mistake, and that mistake affected the flight.
Example Sentence 1
The accident report concluded that human error during the instrument cross-check led to the pilot fixating on the altimeter and missing a developing bank.
Example Sentence 2
Effective training reduces human error by teaching pilots to verbalize each instrument reading in sequence.