Medical error is  responsible for up to a third of patient deaths according to a recent study (Makary et al., 2016). Key to reducing the impact of medical error in the health care setting is an understanding of the ability of the health care system to recognize error and prevent it. This presentation will compare and contrast the lessons learnt from the airline industry in dealing with human error and human fallibility. Lessons learnt from team work, communication, error / hazard reporting and processing as well as human factors engineering will be discussed in the context of the modern health care system.