Ethically Above

    A set of moral principles in the aviation industry can often be a life or death decision. Merriam-Webster defines ethics as, "the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group". What does this mean for individuals in aviation?

    I am an aircraft maintainer. Working on the flight line is both a physically and mentally demanding job. I often work 10-12 hour shifts in this Florida heat and am occasionally needed on the weekends too. With that kind of demand to fix the aircrafts as quick as possible to complete the mission sorties, individuals may be tempted to take a shortcut to ease their workload. There are multiple sorties a day so the odds of a part breaking go up. Let's take a car for example. If you drive your car only a couple of miles in a month, you may only need to refill with gasoline. However, if in the same month, you went on a cross-country road trip instead, you may need other maintenance done on your car such as an oil change or tire rotation. Taking this logic into account, think about how much maintenance would be required for long flights or multiple short flights a day. The aircraft maintainer workload quickly becomes heavy and vitally important. Even though it may feel like the workload never ends, it is crucial to perform maintenance the correct way and to the best of your ability every time. There may come a time when you know there may be a faster way to fix the aircraft so that it gets in the air sooner to make its flying window. However, it is ethically a better choice to just ground the aircraft if the right way to do something will take more maintenance hours. The pressure to make flying windows often comes down to monetary motivation, but maintainers have to think about the safety of the pilots and other assets. Safety is always the priority.

 (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Brittany E. Jones)

Foreign Object Debris (FOD) is any debris that could potentially damage an aircraft (Fizza et al., 2021). FOD on runways could cause catastrophic damage to flight functions or cause delays at airports. One preventative step in place is FOD walks. FOD walks are completed by gathering a group of individuals and inspecting the areas where an aircraft may taxi or have an engine crank up. Here is a photo of a FOD walk being completed at an Air Force base. An Airman could come across a fastener while on the FOD walk. If the Airman decided to not pick up the FOD because they thought it was too tiny or insignificant, then that decision could lead to millions of dollars in aircraft damage, or worse, the loss of life. Something that seems so important, can have the greatest impact.

                                                                                                                                                            

Reference

Fizza, G., Idrus, S. M., Iqbal, F., Hassan, W. H. W., Ahmad, R., Meerah, Z., Kanno, A., Kawanish, T., Shibagaki, N., & Kashima, K. (2021). Review on Foreign Object Debris Detection Technologies and Advancement for Airport Safety and Surveillance. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 12(3), 1431-1436. http://ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/review-on-foreign-object-debris-detection/docview/2623049780/se-2