Human factors engineering considerations in designing naval aircraft for maintainability.

Abstract

Rising maintenance costs and the necessity for increased availability have resulted in a new emphasis on maintainability as a design parameter in the acquisition of Naval air systems. Human factors engineering, traditionally considered a means of improving operator performance, is also a designer's tool for improving aircraft maintainability. Department of Defense directives mandating that all systems be designed according to specific human factors engineering and maintainability criteria confirm the necessity for including the human engineer in the designing of aircraft for maintainability. Appendix A, "The Checklist for Human Factors Engineering of Maintainability in Naval Air Systems Design," has been developed as a tool for aircraft designers and Navy design monitors to ensure human factoring criteria have been incorporated in the maintainability of the major aircraft subsystems.