ACT GLOSSARY

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

What is ‘communication breakdown’? It is a blanket term covering all manner of communication problems. It is a convenient term that is widely-used in aviation. However, it does not provide details of specific communication processes.

COMMUNICATION FACTORS

The ACT Glossary project breaks the concept of communication breakdown into discrete factors. Some factors are small-scale features of speech such as ‘hesitation’ or ‘pronunciation’. Others operate on a larger-scale, such as ‘fatigue’ or ‘startle effect’.

LEARNING FROM THE PAST

The aim of this ongoing project is to raise awareness of communication factors that contribute to accidents and incidents. Forewarned is forearmed. By learning from the problems of the past, we are better equipped to make the future safer.