Episode Details

When examining pilot deaths in WWI it was discovered that 90% were put down to pilot errors whereas only 2% were due to enemy action! Things didn’t improve in WW2 either. A lowly 23 year old analyst challenged the assumption that cockpits should be designed to fit the Average Pilot. This is the story of Human Factors in Aviation.

An RAF pilot’s annual assessment of ability.

Quételet, the man who invented averages.

The University of Ghent.

It was the study of Astronomy that gave rise to the first calculations of average