What are the three domains of factors?

• A. Physical, Chemical, Biological
• B. Operational, Safety, Scheduling
• C. Performance, Reliability, Efficiency
• D. Operational, Maintenance, Logistics

Answer: (D)

In accident analysis, contributors are organized into three domains to cover all angles: operational, maintenance, and logistics.

Operational focuses on how the flight was conducted—crew performance, procedures, training, decision making, command decisions, and how fatigue or workload may have affected actions. Maintenance examines the aircraft’s technical condition—component performance, adherence to maintenance schedules, inspection findings, replacements, and any maintenance errors. Logistics covers the support side that keeps operations going—parts availability, scheduling, provisioning, and other supply-chain and organizational factors that affect readiness and timeliness.

This framing is the best because it ensures we consider human performance and procedures, technical reliability, and the broader support system together. It helps explain not only what happened but why, and what can be done to prevent recurrence.

The other sets don’t fit as neatly. Physical, Chemical, Biological describe hazard classes rather than a structured framework for factors. Operational, Scheduling omits maintenance and the broader logistics support. Performance, Reliability, Efficiency are outcomes or metrics, not the domains used to categorize contributing factors.