Better training and improvements in cockpit technology led to a 40-percent decline in airline accidents attributed to pilot error, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, released Dec. 28, analyzed 558 airline accidents between 1983 and 2002. While the overall rate of accidents remained stable during that time, those related to pilot error decreased significantly, as did those related to “pilots’ poor decisionmaking,” according to the university. “The decreasing trend in pilot-error mishaps probably reflects, in part, advances in technology such as cockpit displays that permit pilots to avoid threatening weather and to determine their exact location in relation to airports, runways, etc.,” the study states. “Emphasis in recent years on crew resource management has likely been another important factor in the 68-percent reduction in mishaps involving poor crew coordination.”