Air Transport Intelligence

August 2002

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is evaluating ways to reduce errors introduced by aircraft mechanics, including regulating human factors in aviation maintenance.

Transport Canada requires human factor maintenance programs and the European JAA is introducing similar regulations this year. The US FAA, however, is still studying the issue. The NTSB today led a discussion to review the European and Canadian regulations and ask what should be done in the USA. 'Maintenance makes a tremendous amount of mistakes,' says NTSB member John Goglia. 'Most of the time they are caught - Nevertheless, they are waiting, sitting to cause major mayhem.'

UK CAA maintenance standards specialist Dave Hall says UK authorities decided in 1997 to take action after identifying human factors. He says the wake-up call came after three serious, but non-fatal maintenance-caused incidents in the early 1990s.

New JAA rules being adopted across Europe require mechanics and their employers to report ambiguous or inaccurate data. The rules also mandate firms to report problems to manufacturers, conduct duplicate inspections and write safety policies. Hall says mistakes are often uncovered during inspections but go unreported, and there are frequent breakdowns in communications between carriers and manufacturers.

'Manufacturers won't be able to hide poor maintenance data,' says Hall.

Goglia says carriers often uncover problems in maintenance manuals, but fail to notify the manufacturer. 'We need to change that attitude and get the manuals and paperwork right,' he says.

Wichita State University professor Alex Chappro, who has led studies of manuals and human factors for the FAA, says that 'maintenance documents do not receive a high priority' among manufacturers. He says many manufacturers want the FAA to begin regulating human factors in maintenance because it would prompt the allocation of more funds for maintenance manuals.

Airbus human factors specialist Simon Gill says Airbus has developed a human factors in maintenance process to make decisions traceable and auditable. Airbus is also working to capture incidents more often and develop robust human factor maintenance requirements.

Boeing human factors specialist Bill Rankin says the most common factors leading to maintenance errors are failure to use available technical information, lack of communication and inadequate support within maintenance organizations. He says European and Canadian carriers have been asking Boeing more for human factors maintenance support than US carriers, a discrepancy he credits to the lack of active or pending regulations in the USA.

Hall says the new JAA rules are also being adopted by several countries outside Europe and will affect JAA-approved maintenance providers overseas. Hall says the new rules will take effect in October, but it could be five to ten years before there is any 'real benefit'.

Air Canada technical services official Robin Wohnsigl says the carrier established its human factors program in 1997 to meet new Transport Canada requirements. So far, however, only 38% of the employees in Air Canada's technical services division have been trained as part of the program.

The US Air Transport Association (ATA) has formed a subcommittee to evaluate human factor maintenance issues, according to ATA official Ric Anderson. He says ATA endorses and encourages a review to look into mandating human factor programs.

FAA associate administrator Nick Sabatini says human factors in aircraft maintenance are being reviewed with an eye towards possible regulations. 'There's a very strong interest by the FAA and the manufacturers,' he says.

Hall says the new rules have been well received in Europe, with companies eager to introduce the programs immediately despite the three-year compliance period. He says middle-level managers have been especially supportive of the regulations because they have forced their companies to allocate resources that otherwise may not be made available.

'It's probably the most popular rules ever introduced,' Hall says.

Goglia points out there are over 50 aircraft safety incidents in the NTSB database caused by faulty maintenance, including the Emery Worldwide Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-8 crash two years ago. 'We just have a substantial amount of problems caused by maintenance misadventures - we need to focus on it.'