Fatigue, complacency, attitude, and stress; these, along with many others, are the human factors in aviation (FAA, 2016). They are the human causes and contributions to aviation mishaps accounting for more than 70 percent of aircraft accidents in aviation (FAA, 2016). The individuals that are the root cause of many of these factors include aircraft operators, air traffic managers, maintainers, and more. Today we will be discussing the maintenance technician roles and contributors that lead to human factors in aviation that cause challenges associated with team-based activities.
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Although many people will initially relate human factors in aviation with pilots and aircraft operators, maintainers are just as susceptible to aviation-crippling human factors. Maintenance is something that must be done by humans in order to account for intuition and care, however must also be carried out in a controlled manner by the use of tech data, without deviation, almost like a machine. However, because humans are not perfect and we make mistakes, there is plenty of room for error.
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The main human factors that arise from maintenance stem from technician physical and mental exhaustion after a long-day's-work, lack-of-sleep caused fatigue, lack of following tech data (aviation ethics), and finally maintenance turn over on shift changes causing communication errors. In the maintenance field some days can be more exhausting than others. Maintenance can be very strenuous work both mentally and physically depending on the job at hand. At the end of a day is when many people become lazy and begin to cut corners. Another fatigue-related issue that becomes a problem is a lack of sleep. It is no secret that many people have developed a culture of late nights, little sleep, bad dietary habits, and relying on energy drinks to get them through the day. This is a recipe for low mental acuity and poor performance in the maintenance field. Tech data is another thing that gets people in trouble when it is not followed correctly due to a lack of experience, and often times a desire to cut corners to save time; BAD MAINTAINER! And finally we get to a serious issue that many have seen first hand: poor communication on maintenance turn over during shift changes. Maintenance is often times a 24 hour job between 3 shifts. If not done properly, this can lead to miscommunication on what has been done, what needs to be done, and even where some equipment is located. The number of times that people have experienced a lost tool or misplaced item due to someone wanting to go home after a shift, and forgetting a tool/fastener/nut in their pocket or somewhere else in the aircraft is astonishing. This can lead to a large number of human-caused mishaps to occur including aircraft damage, wasted time, cancelled flights, and even aircraft going down.
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Resources:
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2016). Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK)
Chapter 2: Aeronautical Decision-Making. Retrieved from
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media/04_phak_ch2.pdf
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