Human Factors in the Maintenance and Inspection of Aircraft

Abstract

Recent accidents and incidents in the world-wide air carrier industry have highlighted the role of aircraft maintenance and inspection in aviation safety. However, aviation human factors research in the past has focused almost exclusively on aircrew and air traffic controller activities. It has become clear that aviation safety relies on a complex interplay of specialists in various disciplines not the least of which are the technicians who diagnose and repair aircraft and their systems. Maintenance technicians are typically members of large industrial organizations subject to problems that beset similar service-oriented industries. Competitive and time pressures abound as well as problems related to selection, training, work environment, job performance aids, and communication. The performance of these specialists is critically bound up with activities of others such as equipment and system designers, technical publication authors, and training providers. The purpose of this symposium is to explore some of the issues which appear to be crucially related to human performance in aircraft maintenance and inspection. The FAA has embarked on a multi-year research program to identify areas where human factors knowledge can lead to significant improvements in safety and to develop or synthesize this knowledge where appropriate. The first paper (Dr. William Shepherd) will overview some of the maintenance human factors issues of today and the future as well as the research program currently underway at the FAA's Office of Aviation Medicine. The three remaining papers will describe some of the specific activity being conducted within this program. Dr. James Taylor will describe his research related to the organizational psychology of the airline maintenance system. His paper addresses issues of worker-management and inter-department communication along with a variety of “socio-technical” considerations. Dr. Colin Drury will describe the results of an extensive maintenance and inspection task analysis that has been conducted at numerous airline maintenance sites. Dr. William Johnson will present the results of an analysis of industry needs related to the application of new technology to maintenance training. Dr. Johnson will also present the evolving specifications for an expert system based maintenance training intelligent tutoring system. The integration of the latter three papers will demonstrate that the overall FAA maintenance research program is studying the organization, the job and the person.