34.4 Human Factors Models and Programmes

34.4.2 Define human factors as used in a professional aviation context.

34.4.4 Describe the fundamentals of the SHELL Model in relation to the interaction of humans with other humans, hardware, information sources, and the environment.

SHELL Model

The SHELL model is a conceptual model of human factors that clarifies the scope of aviation human factors and assists in understanding the human factor relationships between aviation system resources/environment (the flying subsystem) and the human component in the aviation system (the human subsystem).

The SHELL Model is defined as "the relationship of human factors and the aviation environment" 

Most of the air accidents are related to human errors, while the number of mechanical failures has been decreasing.

The critical focus of the model is the human participant, or liveware, the most critical as well as the most flexible component in the system.

This building block diagram does not cover the interfaces which are outside Human Factors (hardware-hardware; hardware-environment; software-hardware) and is only intended as a basic aid to understanding Human Factors