Published Papers
Peer-reviewed research, conference presentations, and safety magazine features by Capt. Amit Singh FRAeS on human factors, cognitive performance, and safety culture in aviation.
A selection of papers presented at international forums and published in safety magazines. Where possible, each entry links directly to the full-text PDF or presentation.
Safety Data & Regulatory Analysis
The Fire We Cannot See — Why India’s SAF Strategy Is Pathway-Mismatched to Its Feedstock
A 6,300-word illustrated analysis of why India’s announced Sustainable Aviation Fuel capacity build-out does not match its 2030 blending target, and why the feedstock India has in strategic abundance — 140 to 230 million tonnes of surplus agricultural residue — remains outside the country’s announced SAF pipeline. Covers the HEFA-versus-ATJ pathway choice, the Indian Oil Panipat commercial start, the LanzaJet technology-transfer dependency, the four-ministry cost of institutional inaction (approximately ₹1.2 lakh crore per year), and five specific policy instruments India has not deployed — each with international precedent. Engages directly with the ICAO ACT-SAF Feasibility Study for India (2025) and the KPMG Fuelling a cleaner sky report (November 2025). Includes seven figures: capacity-gap chart, pathway comparison table, feedstock availability chart, international policy comparison, cost-of-inaction stack, pathways timeline, and five-instrument policy matrix. Document no. SMF/OPN/SAF-CORSIA/2026/001.
Indian Air Force Safety, 2016–2025
A cross-verified open-source review of 65 documented Indian Air Force incidents and accidents across a decade spanning the MiG-21 retirement (September 2025), two brief but consequential combat engagements with Pakistan (Balakot-Budgam, February 2019; Operation Sindoor, May 2025), the Coonoor Mi-17V-5 crash that killed the Chief of Defence Staff (December 2021), and the first Tejas hull losses. Includes a dedicated cognitive-safety chapter grounded in HFACS 8.0, Endsley’s situational-awareness model, spatial disorientation, startle and surprise, automation complacency, and plan-continuation bias. The report makes the two-tier cognitive-safety case anchored in pSuMEDhA (IAM Bengaluru, Thambidurai et al. IJASM 2024) at the selection-and-evaluation tier and the Safety Matters Foundation’s Perceptiva Chakshu Yan (IJASM 2026) at the operational-monitoring tier. Includes international benchmarking against USAF, USN, USMC and historical IAF data, and a recommendations roadmap spanning technical, human-factors and organisational axes. Document no. SMF/RES/IAF-SAF/2026/001.
Ground Incidents at Indian Civil Airports, 2016–2025
A decade-level public-record review of 144 ground-phase safety occurrences at Indian civil airports, compared against Parliament-reported wildlife-strike aggregates (7,489 incidents over 2020–2025) and the Airports Authority of India State Safety Programme register. Identifies a five-fold internal publication gap between what the Indian regulator records and what the public record shows. Includes the “Official vs SMF Gap” comparison sheet, CAR 5-F-III breath-analyser positives register, and the ICAO CICTT-coded 144-row dataset with pivots by year, airport, operator and category.
Cognition & Decision-Making
Why Pilots Sometimes Persist When It’s Safer to Stop
Plan-continuation bias explored through recent approach-and-landing case studies.
Cognitive Lockup
How fixation on a chosen course of action prevents pilots from re-evaluating as conditions change.
Cognitive Lockup — Part II
Companion piece in the UK Flight Safety Committee’s FOCUS magazine.
Inattentional Blindness and Bias During Visual Scan
How attentional filters cause pilots to miss salient cues even while looking directly at them.
Erroneous Take-Off Performance
Systemic analysis of take-off performance errors and the human-automation interface.
Training & Pedagogy
Trainer as a Subject-Matter Expert
Presented at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University — reframing the trainer’s role in competency-based flight training.
Cross-Cultural Training of Trainers
Cultural factors in instructor-trainee dynamics and how they shape safety-critical learning.
Nidhidhyasana — The Path to Sustainable Learning
Presented at the European Aviation Training Symposium — applying a classical contemplative framework to modern pilot training.
Competency & Learning — Gurprit Research Paper
Co-authored research paper on pilot competency development.
Safety Culture & Human Factors
The Social Conformist
How group dynamics and authority gradients shape unsafe behaviour in the cockpit.
High Reliability Organisations
What aviation can import from HRO theory — mindful practice, deference to expertise, and resilience.
SAAS-SIN-17 — Safety Information Notice
Collaborative safety-information briefing produced for the Flight Safety Foundation’s Singapore summit.
Safety Culture Report — Pilot Fatigue
Survey-based study of pilot fatigue, rostering practice, and the organisational responses that follow.
European Association of Aviation Psychology — Presentation
Conference presentation delivered at the 33rd EAAP Conference.
The Investigator — GCAA
Featured article in the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority’s investigator journal.
Citing this work
If you reference any of these papers in your own research or training material, please cite the original source listed on each document. For collaboration or speaking enquiries, please contact Safety Matters Foundation directly.
