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Seeking Innovation in Aviation Maintenance Through Human Factor Training

Oludotun O. Odunmbaku

College of Aviation, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

MAVM 601: Leadership in Global Maintenance Organizations

Prof. Mark Reimann

February 12, 2023

Seeking Innovation in Aviation Maintenance Through Human Factor Training

Proposal

Human factor (HF) training has always been an integral aspect of aviation maintenance.

According to Maddox (n.d.), international aviation regulatory bodies such as Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) and European Safety Aviation Authority (EASA) imposed training

programs on all HF in the aviation sector to improve safety in global aviation. Training of

aviation HF in aviation maintenance has always focused on safety in the industry. Over the

years, training programs such as Maintenance Resources Management (MRM) and Crew

Resources Management (CRM) were introduced into global aviation after a series of accident

that occurred pointed towards HF errors as the cause of the accidents. In 1977, two Boeing 747

aircraft collided on the runway at Tenerife airport, killing 583 people (Cooper et al., 1980). After

investigations, NASA conducted a training session with an emphasis on communication and

teamwork. This training session marked the beginning of CRM, formerly known as Cockpit

Resource Management.

NASA implemented CRM solely to improve flight crew team performance by conducting

training exercises that focus on communication, decision making, application of knowledge to

operational scenarios, and case study analysis (Cooper et al., 1980). CRM focused mainly on

crew station personnel to include pilot and flight crews. While the crew station and cockpit

personnel training continued, a need to train maintainers and other operators arose (Cooper et al.,

1980). The late 1980s and early 1900s saw a series of aviation mishaps and accidents related to

maintenance errors; this resulted in creating MRM (Cooper et al., 1980). MRM is a tool to

provide individuals and groups with the skills and processes to manage errors within their

control. Like CRM, MRM also focuses on communication, competency, making appropriate
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decisions, and safety. From these trainings, it was identified that individual activities sometimes

lead to latent errors that can cause aviation mishaps (Yiannakides and Sergiou, 2019). Examples

of latent error includes when a maintenance personnel does not properly install a panel that ends

up coming off during a flight to hit another section of the aircraft leading to cabin breach and

loss of cabin pressure.

According to Salas and Maurino (2010), individuals' or groups' unusual behaviors or

activities can sometimes lead to incidents and other safety hazards, hence the need to study HF

activities and behavior in aviation maintenance. According to Siddiqui et al. (2012), MRM

training provides maintainers with the tools to evaluate and change their behavior to work safety

and reduce error. These trainings have helped to improve HF activities in the aviation industry by

identifying the root causes of aviation accidents and suggesting ways to avoid them. Although

many of the training programs in aviation maintenance have been developed to reduce HF error

and increase safety, HF in aviation maintenance can benefit and contribute more to the

development of the aviation maintenance sector through sharing of innovative ideas, identifying

potential issues in aviation maintenance, presenting possible ways to address such issues, and

developing faster ways to accomplishing their day-to-day taskings without compromise to the

quality of the work being done.

In addition, global aviation is growing to an unprecedented scale which will require more

aircraft maintenance, thus more HF in aviation maintenance. According to Hobbs (2018), for

every one hour of flight, there have been 12-man hours of aircraft maintenance. With this

growing demand in the aviation maintenance sector, many companies will have to rely heavily

on the innovative ideas of their maintenance team to meet their consumers’ demands in a timely

manner, hence, the importance of training programs aimed at tapping into the creative and
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innovative mindsets of maintainers. However, according to Pozo et al. (2012), despite the

presumed importance of training on development and innovation, there have been little to no

application of such methods to innovation in many organizations. Also, Walter (2000)

emphasized that it is important to develop training programs that focus on knowledge and skill

consistent with the organization goals and objectives.

This project aims to identify and create a training program that will be tailored towards

development and innovation as a means to address disruptive technology, increase efficiency in

the organization and in global aviation maintenance at large. Through the results from this

research, leaders will be able to develop their team and increase efficiency in the organization at

almost no cost to the organization. In addition, this approach may also increase morale and

commitment in the organization as maintainers will feel a sense of pride due to their contribution

to the organization’s operations.

Disruptive Technology in Aviation Maintenance

Aviation maintenance is a field with great precision and reliability on parts, tools, and

ideas of the HF. According to Ceruti et al. (2019), aviation maintenance is a complex and

demanding field from both a design and maintenance perspective and the requirement on HF to

continue delivering impeccable services despite the exponential growth in the industry is

alarming. This has prompted the need to invent long-term based ideas that can ease complex

aviation practices for the next decade or more as it is important to have continuous development

and innovation of ideas, processes, and repair methods to promote productivity in the industry.

The need for innovation has introduced several disruptive technologies, processes, and methods

of performing repairs that can be substituted for old obsolete systems or processes. Ceruti et al.
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(2019) highlighted that Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Augmented Reality (AR) as some of

the recent disruptive technologies that have been introduced into global aviation maintenance.

The introduction of new systems always raises questions in aviation maintenance. From

the regulatory bodies to the entry level maintenance personnels working on the hangar floor,

there will always be skepticism as to the reliability of new technology and how they will affect

all aspects of aviation maintenance to include efficiency, safety, and cost effectiveness.

According to Signalmen (2019), the insufficient use of disruptive technologies makes it hard for

the regulatory bodies to approve of their use in flight critical parts. Building on that idea, these

disruptive technologies such as AM and AR do not necessarily need to be used for flight critical

parts; aviation maintainers can effectively make use of such technologies for other aspects of

their jobs such as in-house manufacturing of in-house complex tools, building prototypes for

various maintenance activities, and creating hands-on training programs for new recruits. A good

example is in the manufacture of military grade connectors and other expendable parts that are

used for maintenance activities in military aviation.

Every year, the military experiences a large junk of unfunded budget due to the high-end

financial needs that every sector of the military has. Military aviation, being one of cost

demanding departments, sees more than half of her budget unfunded. According to Serbu and

Maucione (2021), the funds provided to support innovation and sustainability in the military

departments barely covers 80% of the requirements, leaving each department scrambling for

ways to cut cost while keeping a sustainable fighting force. By adopting disruptive innovative

production methods such as AM, army aviation will be able to spend less on non-flight critical

parts procurement, supply chain management, and tools replacement cost. The main concern,

though, is that most aviation maintainers are not aware of the existence of such technologies.
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Even those that are aware are not properly trained or exposed to the possibilities of using them to

achieve their daily tasks; thus, the need for training programs focused on identifying innovative

ways to support maintenance programs in global aviation. The same situation goes for civilian

aviation maintenance organizations where lager budgets are spent on non-flight critical parts and

tools that required to sustain the fleet. In addition to cost reduction, adopting innovative training

can also reduce Aircraft On Ground (AOG) time that results in longer maintenance period and

reduced profitability.

Further, training programs in preliminary aviation schools are not sufficient to bridge the

learning curve impact that new aviation maintainers face when they reach real life work

environment. According to Sadasivan et al. (2006), adding innovative ways to enhance HF

interaction in the work environment will go a long way in building a generation of not just

competent maintainers but also innovative thinkers who will have the capability to be more

efficient and reliable in the workplace. Sadasivan et al. (2006) added that the first step to creating

an innovative program is to do a compete assessment of the current workforce and create a

curriculum that targets the areas where innovative ideas are needed.
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References

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcde.2019.02.001

Cooper, G. E., White, M. D., & Lauber, J. K. (1980). Resource management on the flight deck:

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Hobbs, A. (2018, January). An overview of human factors in aviation maintenance.

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