DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjet.2026.v14i09.009

Pages: 567-574

Human factors occupy a central place in contemporary aviation-safety research, and for good reason. Nevertheless, a residual class of occurrences exists in which the initiating event is not an operational human error but a physical, technical, environmental, or material failure. This paper examines the methodological validity of describing such events as “aviation accidents without the human factor.” The analysis is based primarily on final reports and safety recommendations issued by independent accident investigation authorities, including the NTSB, AAIB, ATSB, and the Polish State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation (PKBWL), supported by ICAO safety-management material and specialist human-factors literature. The present draft develops the conceptual framework and two initial case studies British Airways Flight 38 and US Airways Flight 1549 while leaving the empirical case set deliberately open for additional events and independent analysis by the remaining authors. The working distinction proposed in the paper is between human-independent initiating events and latent human-related system conditions. Under this approach, an occurrence may be free from active operational human error at the point of initiation while still revealing design, certification, manufacturing, maintenance, or organizational vulnerabilities at deeper levels of the aviation system. The final comparative conclusions are therefore intended to emerge only after all authors’ case studies have been incorporated.