Commercial airplanes have become much more reliable, but since 1975 the fatality rate has stopped falling and has leveled off. From 60 to 80 percent of all plane crashes are now blamed on cockpit (pilot) error. This NOVA episode examines the causes and possible solutions for flight crew miscommunication and procedural errors. One factor may be the 'macho' or 'go-it-alone' attitudes of pilots originally trained to fly single-seat military fighter jets. Another factor is "automation complacency", where a highly-automated cockpit environment leads to reduced piloting skills and a false sense of security. One promising program being developed by aviation psychologists is Cockpit Resource Management (CRM), which trains crew members to work and communicate as a team. To illustrate the deadly results of human-factors failures, three recent airline crashes are reviewed in detail: the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 crash into the 14th Street Potomac River Bridge; the 1972 Eastern Flight 401 crash into the Florida Everglades; and the 1985 Delta Flight 191 crash near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
