Who is the SME for human factor related to accident investigations?

• A. Flight Surgeon
• B. Aeromedical Psychologist
• C. Safety Specialist
• D. Human Factors Engineer

Answer: (B)

Understanding how human behavior influences safety is the focus here. In accident investigations, the expert who best explains how cognition, decision-making, fatigue, stress, and crew interactions affect performance is the aeromedical psychologist. This professional combines aviation medicine with psychology to evaluate mental state, workload, fatigue, situational awareness, and team dynamics, and to interpret how these human factors contributed to the incident.

Flight surgeons specialize in medical fitness and health issues, which are important but not the primary lens for human factors in investigations. Safety specialists focus on safety management systems and hazard controls, not the psychological processes behind an action or error. Human factors engineers study system and interface design, but the direct analysis of human behavior and mental processes during an accident is most precisely addressed by an aeromedical psychologist.