Alexandria, VA – The Flight Safety Foundation awarded the 2013 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award to Key Dismukes, Chief Scientist, Human Factors, NASA Ames Research Center. The award was presented during the opening session of the 66th annual International Air Safety Summit.
Dr. Dismukes has dedicated more than three decades of research to understanding human error in aviation. This has resulted in an overhaul of normal procedures in airline operations and substantial improvements in aviation safety. “Dr. Dismukes’ research has been instrumental in changing the way we think about human factors in aviation and this has ultimately made aviation much safer,” stated FSF President and CEO, Kevin Hiatt.
“He used his research to work closely with aviation safety experts to develop recommendations that aligned operational procedures with actually operating conditions,” Hiatt continued.
Through his observations, flight simulation studies, analysis of airline accidents and laboratory studies, Dr. Dismukes identified factors underlying seemingly unrelated accidents and incidents and then worked with aviation safety experts to address these factors.
The Laura Taber Barbour award is one of the Foundation’s oldest awards. It was established in 1956 by the late Clifford E. Barbour and his son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr, in memory of the elder Barbour’s wife, who perished in 1945 when a DC-3 struck a mountain in WV, killing all 20 on board. The family used the insurance settlement to institute this award in her memory.
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Flight Safety Foundation (www.flightsafetstg.wpenginepowered.com) is an independent, non-profit, international organization engaged in research, education, advocacy and publishing to improve aviation safety. The Foundation’s mission is to be the leading voice of safety for the global aerospace community.
Contact: Emily McGee, Director of Communications, +1 703 739 6700, ext 126; mcgee@webdeva.flightsafety.org
