Legislative Acts
In 1988 the Aviation Safety Research Acts was passed. This was a major milestone for the advancement of the aviation industry. This act aimed to highlight human factors in aviation, air traffic control improvements, and the effects of corrosion on aircraft structures to name a few. The results of this at help to sustain long-term research into what human factors are contributing to aviation accidents and incidents. Prior to this there had been little research done to determine the underlying factors outside of just attributing accidents to human error.
Additionally, this helped to shine light and allocate resources to older airframes still in use. With both the deep look into what can be done to save or replace older aircraft fleets and the effects of corrosion on aircrafts the entire fleet was made safer by not allowing potentially unairworthy aircraft to fly. The Aloha Airline flight 243, coincidentally occurred in 1988 too. This was a result of poor maintenance and pre-flight check practices. The inability to detect significant damage and disbonding on the fuselage (Airways, 2020).
The wholistic safety approach helped to advance the idea that if safety is in the forefront of the aviation industry's ideology it will produce at a higher level and mitigate the cost and distress of aviation accidents.
References
Airways. (2020). Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Incident, 32 Years Later. Airways Magazine. https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/32-years-aloha-flight-243-accident/
Hoffman, T. & Williams, J. (2020). The Humans Behind Human Factors. FAA Safety Briefing. https://medium.com/faa/the-humans-behind-human-factors-e4b639cbac8b
The Corrosion Clinic. (n.d.). Corrosion Control and Prevention for Aircraft Structure and Engine Components. https://www.corrosionclinic.com/corrosion_courses/Corrosion_Control_and_Prevention_for_Aircraft.htm
Corrosion still plagues the aircraft industry and it’s designed to limit, mitigate, or eliminate, but we know that will never be the case. So far, it has proved unsuccessful. In early 2000, Military P-3 reconnaissance aircraft were found to have an extensive level of corrosion. Over 200 aircraft were retired well ahead of its replacement by the P-8. This created a major headache because there were not enough aircraft for training and deployments. The common factor was human error not doing proper corrosion inspections. Should the corrosion had been caught at an earlier stage, it would have been prevented and most likely kept the 200 retired aircraft in service longer. Fast forward, we are starting to catch corrosion at the early stage on the P-8 engines because. The cause of the corrosion is the nature in which the aircraft is designed to operate.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Aviation Safety Research Act is extremely beneficial to us because highlighting human factors in aviation, air traffic control improvements, and the effects of corrosion on aircraft structures within this act was very important because these issues are extremely common on modern day aircraft and can lead to various issues and even lead to death if left unnoticed or not controlled properly.
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