Resilience and Ergonomics in aviation

According to a widely accepted notion, resilience engineering is the ability of complex system to be robust yet flexible. Aviation is a complex system made of technology, environment and people. Each of these systems is complex in itself. According to this paper, the paradigm shift that informed the aircraft design during the early ‘90’s, technology-centered, has lessened the propriety of the aviation system to be resilient. In fact, since the human factor in aviation has been seen as the weak ring of the chain, more and more technology has been introduced on board, to take over a series of tasks traditionally accomplished by the pilots. The resulting opacity of the system, no more thoroughly known by the final users, has diminished the ability of pilots to deviate from established procedures and to create a safety buffer via innovative and creative management of the airplanes. Herein, some aspects will be shown in the human-technology relationship in aviation, to evaluate if some innovation could be considered a step forward toward safety or a step back to a less resilient system