Manfred Müller is a training captain with Lufthansa. At Domain pulse he explained why artificial intelligence cannot replace humans, and why a large hierarchy gap leads to dangerous situations.

The fog is thick, a Boeing 747 slowly taxiing onto the runway of the small Los Rodeos airport on Tenerife. The KLM plane turns around to get into take-off position. Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten starts the plane - without the tower's take-off clearance. And this despite his co-pilot pointing out the lack of clearance. But Veldhuyzen van Zanten ignores him. Shortly before the plane takes off on the runway, he sees the lights of an oncoming Pan-Am machine. The captain pulls the plane up into the air, but the impact can no longer be avoided. 583 people die on 27 March 1977. The accident is one of the most serious in civil aviation, a chain of unfortunate circumstances. Veldhuyzen van Zanten, who himself died in the accident, is considered one of the main culprits. He had completed more than 11,000 flying hours by then and was chief instructor of the Dutch airline KLM. A respected pilot. How could he be responsible for this fatal error?

Deficits in teamwork
At Domain pulse in Innsbruck Manfred Müller, in his lecture "Errare humanum est: AI as a future solution to human error?", uses the accident on Tenerife as an example of too great a hierarchy gap. Müller is a training captain and head of flight safety research at Lufthansa AG. "Deficits in team cooperation are always responsible for the fact that simple work mistakes can turn into disasters," says Müller. The people in the team are the decisive factor, like KLM Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. "The pilot was not able to admit his mistake. A colleague had realized that there was no takeoff clearance, but he did not dare to stop his superior."

The accident on Tenerife had repercussions, for example, pilot training began to include the ability to work in a team. Structures and hierarchy are needed in the cockpit, but it is also important to include lower-ranking crew members in decisions, says Müller. "Better to say a little too much once, than too little once." In order to do this, it is important as a manager to know what kind of superior you are. "Are you perceived as dominant and authoritarian, or as averse to conflict? And the most important question is: How can I find out?" Müller asks the audience in Innsbruck. One listener replied: "You could ask your employees." Then Müller shook his head and said: "These people are on the payroll, there is a relationship of dependence. So you're not going to get an honest answer." The best way is to ask your life partner. "But then that can become unpleasant," says the training captain.

Increase the degree of automation
People make mistakes. So shouldn't we simply increase the degree of automation? "The hopes that ever more powerful computer systems could replace humans have not yet been fulfilled. Progressive automation has not increased safety, but pilots receive less training," says Müller. Because people rely too much on the computer. "Artificial intelligence is a great help, but we must not overestimate it." It is therefore more important to reduce the human error rate. The training captain names important factors to achieve this: "The pilots must be able to criticise, there must be an optimal hierarchy." Better social interaction could prevent 80 percent of all mistakes. The acceptance of one's own mistakes plays an important role in this. "Often high-ranking employees cannot admit to weaknesses. After this realization, by the way, I would rather not be treated by the head physician in a hospital", Müller smiles.

"Seal of the confessional" introduced
In addition, it is important that errors are not hidden. "Errors must be reported so that we can avoid them in the future, and they must not be punished." Lufthansa therefore introduced a "seal of the confessional". "We give the pilots a guarantee that he or she will not be identified if an error is reported," says Müller. This system has proved itself, he said.

According to Müller, this risk management system has increased air traffic safety by a factor of more than 100 within a few decades. "The strategy can be applied in many other industries."

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