[Dalewyn]

Sometimes it really does come down to sheer stupidity or incompetence.

Taking the recent incident at HND earlier this month between a JAL A350 and JCG DHC-8, the investigation (currently still ongoing) is pointing to the JCG Captain astronomically fucking up:

* ATC ordered the JCG DHC-8 to hold short of the runway and informed them they were #1 in the take off queue. Take off clearance was never given.

* The First Officer of the JCG DHC-8 read back the order to hold short and their position in the queue.

* JAL A350 had clearance to land and (along with other aircraft) listened in to the above conversation, routine stuff to help maintain situational awareness.

* The Captain of the JCG DHC-8 entered the runway, violating order to hold short, and sat there for approximately 40 seconds until they were struck by the JAL A350.

ATC, JAL, and even the JCG First Officer all did things right and yet all it took was apparently one Captain screwing up.

Yes, there were compounding factors like how it was nighttime and all the airport lights flooded out the JCG DHC-8's lights, but pilot error is the only reasonable way of ultimately explaining incidents like this.

[goodcanadian]

So, I would say that pilot error is a primary factor in this case. But, that still leaves open the question of why the error occurred and whether there is anything we can do to reduce the probability of it happening again. I highly doubt the Captain is simply stupid or incompetent given all of his experience. Perhaps, the crew was overly fatigued? People make mistakes, sometimes big ones. The question is how to reduce mistakes and how to limit damage from those mistakes.