Just got the sad news that Bob Helmreich, Professor Emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin, passed away today.
Bob made a critical and long lasting contribution to aviation safety. His groundbreaking research in human factors, literally, wrote the text book for the field.
He was a wonderful, kind, generous and caring person with a delightful sense of humor. His towering intellect never stood in the way of his humanity.
RIP Bob. Thank you for everything you did for our community and for me personally.
Three Wire
9th Jul 2012, 15:21
I second that. I am grateful that his work lives on in our and many other CRM/HF programs.
3W
Armchairflyer
9th Jul 2012, 16:18
Sad news indeed. My condolences.
dflyer
11th Jul 2012, 22:37
Bob Helmreich passed away on Saturday, 7th July.
Bob was the father of LOSA (Line Operations Safety Audit), and was principal investigator of the University of Texas Human Factors Research Project, which studied individual and team performance, human error, and the influence of culture on behavior in aviation and medicine.
He wrote over two hundred papers, chapters and scientific reports.
Among his many achievements Bob received the Flight Safety Foundation Distinguished Service Award in 1994 for his contributions to aviation safety through the study and development of team training techniques (Crew Resource Management) for flight crews. He was also awarded Laurels from Aviation Week and Space Technology in 1994 and 2002 for his research related to human factors in aviation. He received the David S. Sheridan Award from Albany Medical College in 1997. He was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the American Psychological Association. In 2004 he received the distinguished service award of the Flight Safety Foundation and the Human Factors award of Airbus Industrie.
Bob made a critical and long lasting contribution to aviation safety and will be greatly missed.
