This course provides an introduction to aircraft accident investigation through a comprehensive series of lectures, case studies and group activities.

Learning outcomes

Participants will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the medical and human factors aspects of aircraft accident investigation including:

• Principles of aircraft accident investigation
• The legislative and procedural aspects of accident investigation
• The onsite response
• Accident data collection and analysis
• The role of natural disease, pilot incapacitation and impaired human performance
• Aviation pathology, particularly victim identification, toxicology, and injury analysis
• Crashworthiness and survivability principles
• The biomechanics of impact protection
• Assessment of life support systems
• Determining accident causation and investigation outcomes

King’s College London is a leading academic centre in aerospace medicine and is active in research and education including Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) training. Professor David Newman has been involved as an expert consultant to accident investigations around the world.

The course is intended for qualified doctors and geared towards their requirements, but the course is open to applicants from diverse healthcare and human factors backgrounds. While no previous knowledge of aerospace medicine is required, the course builds on existing student knowledge of medicine and physiology. While the emphasis is on aircraft accidents, the skills and knowledge gained on this course are readily transferable to healthcare human factors incident and accident investigation.

Applicants are welcome from all countries for this course. There is no formal language requirement but an IELTS score of 5 or higher is strongly recommended for applicants whose first language is not English.

Assessment

Participants will be expected to complete all the lectures, after which they will receive a King’s College London certificate of completion.

This is a 5 day, full time attendance course.

Other Aerospace Medicine courses at King's

• Aerospace Medicine PG Dip / MSc
• Introduction to Aerospace Medicine
• Basic Course in Aviation Medicine
• Advanced Course in Aviation Medicine