Aviation human factors · Bucharest

Human factors,
from the flight deck

I research how flight crews will work alongside automation and artificial intelligence as cockpits are re-crewed — and I fly the aircraft the research is about.

My doctoral work at the Technical University of Crete develops behavioural markers and competency frameworks for single pilot operations, leading to a Single Pilot Resource Management training course. It builds on an MSc in Human Factors from Coventry University and on twenty years in military and commercial flight operations — flight instruction, examining, standardisation, and five HFACS-based accident investigations as deputy head of safety for an Air Force wing.

That combination is the point. Most human factors research on de-crewing is written by people who have never held command; most command experience never reaches a journal. I work in both directions, and the operational detail tends to be where the interesting problems are.

Alongside the peer-reviewed work I write for practitioners — companion guides for pilots moving into the left and right seats, and a plain-language guide for passengers — and build small analytical tools that put human factors methods into working form.

Where to start

Research sets out the four strands the doctoral work sits in. Publications lists peer-reviewed articles, chapters and edited volumes with DOIs, plus manuscripts currently under review. Books covers the practitioner titles. Projects documents the instruments — including Sextant, a human factors audit instrument for AI-enabled aviation systems.

Last updated August 2026 · Views expressed here are my own and do not represent any employer.