Evaluation of the concept of criminalisation of human error in aviation in the Middle East.

Aviation is one of the safest modes of transportation, due to the high standards and regulations that govern this industry. One of the methods that enhance aviation safety is accident and incident investigation, where root causes and contributing factors are analysed to generate safety recommendations that assist in the prevention of future, similar accidents. However, there has been an increasing trend of criminalising aviation professionals in the wake of aviation accidents where aviation accident investigators were also invited to testify as experts to help judges deliver justice for affected parties. The research was conducted over 9 phases starting with a literature review, exploring the issues surrounding the concept of the criminalisation of pilot error in the aviation industry. From there knowledge gaps were identified and research questions generated from them. To fill these gaps a questionnaire was developed and field studies and online surveys were conducted to gather data, which was used to generate an initial framework which was subsequently evaluated using subject matter experts (SMEs) and hypothetical case studies to validate them. The results of the evaluation and validation were then used to generate the final Criminalisation of Pilot Error (CoPE) framework for use in the aviation industry that helps to guide independent safety investigators to address and prevent the escalation of pilot error cases from reaching the court. The research also created well-defined elements that cover all aspects of the criminalisation of pilot error, as well as, a detailed study addressing cultural aspects in different parts of the world, with a focus on the Middle East, and how these affect the concept of the criminalisation of pilot error.