Human Factors for the people who run the operation from the ground.
Not CRM for flight crew. Two days on fatigue, stress, decisions and teamwork as they happen on the OCC floor, including what changes when AI decision-support tools join the shift.
The Sinful Sixteen
IFOA's own framework for human error in an OCC that works alongside AI. It takes the aviation Dirty Dozen, shows how each factor changes once AI tools join the shift, and adds four new factors, anchored by Automation Over-Reliance.
Your team works through all sixteen during the course, and every module refers back to them.
The program
Eleven modules over two days, each mapped to an ICAO Doc 10106 competency. Select a module to see what it covers.
Day 1
- 01Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills
Why technical competency alone doesn't make a strong OCC operator, and why judgment, communication and self-management usually decide how a shift goes.
All non-technical competencies - 02The OCC Environment
24/7 shift work, many stakeholders and constant change: the pressures that are specific to the operations floor.
Situational awareness - 03Stress and Performance
The stress-performance curve, and how to read your own position on it during an irregular-operations day.
Workload management - 04Fatigue
Acute tiredness versus cumulative fatigue, high-risk roster patterns, and countermeasures on shift.
Workload management - 05Resilience
Individual and team resilience through the OCC's cycle of disruption and recovery.
Leadership and teamwork - 06Decision Making
Structured decision-making under uncertainty and time pressure, including when a tool should advise and when a human must decide.
Problem solving and decision-making
Day 2
- 01Communication
Closing the gaps between dispatch, crew control, ground handling, maintenance and management.
Communication - 02Error Management Techniques
Catching, containing and recovering from error before it cascades across the operation, using TEM.
Problem solving and decision-making - 03Situational Awareness
Building and keeping the operational picture, including the risks your tools don't flag.
Situational awareness and information management - 04Emotional Intelligence
Managing your own reactions and reading your colleagues' under pressure.
Leadership and teamwork - 05AI-CDM in the OCC
Working with AI decision-support tools: where they should advise, where they shouldn't decide, and how to stay the decision-maker rather than a rubber stamp. Draws on IFOA's doctoral research into AI and competency in operational control.
Problem solving and decision-making
What your team will be able to do
- Recognize why soft skills, not just technical competency, define a strong OCC operator
- Describe the human-performance pressures specific to a 24/7 OCC
- Read your own position on the stress-performance curve during IROPS
- Distinguish acute tiredness from cumulative fatigue and recognize high-risk rosters
- Build individual and team resilience for disruption and recovery
- Apply structured decision-making under uncertainty
- Close communication gaps across dispatch, crew control, ground handling and management
- Catch, contain and recover from error before it cascades
- Maintain the operational picture, including unflagged risks
- Manage your own reactions and read others' under pressure
- Stay the decision-maker when working with AI tools, not a rubber stamp on their output
One model of risk throughout
Every module is taught through Threat and Error Management, using situations from the OCC floor rather than the flight deck.
Each participant works through OCC scenarios and is assessed on how they apply the course to real decisions.
Mixed-role teams solve a disruption together, assessed on communication, coordination and shared decisions.
Who it's for
- Flight dispatchers
- Operations controllers
- Crew control and scheduling
- Maintenance Control Center (MCC)
- OCC duty managers
How we deliver it
At your OCC
We come to you. Scenarios use your own disruptions, procedures and tools.
At an IFOA facility
Your team trains away from the operation, with no calls from the floor.
Recurrent refresher
A shorter session to revisit the Sinful Sixteen with your team's recent events.