Aviation Safety, Security Expert Wins Top Awards

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Whether it's detecting the image of a knife on an airport X-ray scanner or detecting a hairline crack in an aircraft component, Colin G. Drury, Ph.D., has made a career out of studying how people can be taught to spot very rare events that carry very high consequences.

By combining research into human factors, human error and quality control, Drury, a UB Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo, has pioneered many innovations designed to reduce human errors in both the maintenance of aircraft and the screening of passengers.

"The technology is different in an aviation security environment than it is for aircraft maintenance, but the human factors issues are the same," said Drury. "In both cases, we are looking for very rare events with very high consequences that are inherently difficult to detect."

Currently, Drury is working with security screeners at airports to determine the best ways to do X-ray inspections for knives, guns and improvised explosive devices. He and his colleagues also are developing staffing models for airports, using industrial engineering principles to determine the optimal levels for keeping passengers flowing through airports efficiently without compromising security.

This fall, Drury's career of broad contributions to the fields of aviation safety and human factors is being honored by not one, but two, prestigious national honors: the Federal Aviation Administration 2005 Excellence in Aviation Research Award and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's A.R. Lauer Safety Award.

The FAA Excellence in Aviation Research Award recognizes Drury's research into making airline travel safer by enhancing the science of inspection through human factors, the study of the ways that people perform tasks. He said that an essential piece of the research was the enthusiastic cooperation of aviation mechanics and inspectors.

Drury has been a recipient of FAA grants since 1989 and has served since 1998 as a member of its research and development engineering committee. He also has chaired its human factors committee.

The FAA award will be presented to Drury later this month in Washington, D.C.

In October at the annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in Orlando, Drury received the A.R. Lauer Safety Award, which acknowledges his contributions not only to traditional areas of safety, but to consumer products, medical systems, chemical weapons destruction and transportation. Drury is an internationally recognized expert on how human factors -- such as ergonomics, fatigue and training -- affect numerous industries.

He directs UB's Research Institute for Safety and Security in Transportation (RISST), which studies how human factors contribute to errors and inefficiencies in security systems, such as those used to inspect baggage and screen passengers in airports.

Established in 2004 with a $538,000 grant from the Transportation Security Administration, which was formed after the 9/11 terror attacks, RISST also investigates how and why inspectors fail to find defects during routine aircraft maintenance.

Drury is applying techniques he developed during more than 30 years of aircraft-inspection research to the study of transportation security systems.

Data from RISST studies will be compiled in a database and made available to other researchers nationwide working on projects to advance public safety. The institute also will apply its resources and findings to improve safety and security outside of airports and in and around other potential terror targets.

Drury is a member of TSA's Scientific Advisory Panel and serves on the National Research Council's Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security. As a member of these panels, he has reviewed security systems in airports around the world.

In 1999, he conducted a study for the Air Transport Association evaluating the equipment used by the FAA for surprise security tests and use of a simulated bomb set in training and testing security screeners.

Currently, RISST is conducting FAA-funded research into how to reduce language-related errors in aviation maintenance and inspection.

"The profit squeeze on airlines has increased pressure to reduce maintenance costs," said Drury. "As a result, more airlines are outsourcing aviation maintenance, both in the U.S. and outside it. So a number of the people performing, inspecting and supervising the maintenance work do not have English as their native language."

Previous research by Drury and his colleagues at UB has demonstrated that since "English is the language of aviation," non-native English speakers have higher error rates. Further research by him also has demonstrated that the restricted language known as Simplified English, used in aerospace documents, can greatly reduce such errors.

The language error study also showed that both translation of documents and special language training were key factors in improving performance.

RISST also is studying how the long working hours and shift work of inspectors contribute to increased error rates in aviation maintenance and how changes in work hours and conditions can reduce these errors.

A UB faculty member since 1972, Drury is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the International Ergonomics Association, the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Ergonomic Society.

He is a recipient of the Paul Fitts' Award by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Bartlett Medal of the Ergonomics Society.