For the last decade, the number of U.S. General Aviation Accidents varied around 7 percent (Aircrafts Owners and Pilots Association par.1). Last year this number decreased to 5.85 percent (Pope par. 3). Though the National Transportation Safety Board states that the percent of general aviation accidents is 95 of all aviation cases (“Review of US Civil Aviation Accidents” 22). Anyway, “the lessons from accidents have played an important role in the process to continue improving aviation safety” (Federal Aviation Administration par. 1). The purpose of the current essay is to analyze the reasons that lead students not to fill in safety reports, stating their mistakes, and the measures that can be taken to improve the situation.
The article Safety Occurrences Student Perceptions Regarding Failures to Report is taken as the basis of the analysis. The analyzed article illuminates certain important issues that should be taken into the account (Dillman 10). The research reflects that there is always a certain amount of people who are afraid to be punished and would rather keep their mistakes to themselves, not reporting them. The cases of not sharing the personal negative experience, but declaration of mistakes by themselves was noted in more than a half of students, while the other students agreed to share their errors in the reports so others could be warned. The expenses are also an issue. The students are not likely to report if they will have to pay money for the additional training. The students trust the flight department, they accept that it acts in the interest of their safety and is opened to discussion. The lack of time or opportunity to fill in a safety report is a big issue. It also may lead to forgetting the error made. The negative attitude of others, the personal embarrassment caused by the attitude, and the disrespect to the people of authority who do break the safety rules by themselves, but demand the students to follow the rules and fill in the reports is also considered to be a serious reason.
Some reasons for not filling in the reports revealed in the paper are easily solved by increasing the level of privacy both in the process of working on reports and the discussion of the mistakes made. The negative attitude and judging of colleagues could not be taken into account if this measure will be applied. The other issues seem to be common to a collegiate setting as well as to all other reporting systems. No one is likely to listen to the authority or the instructor who does not follow the protocol and demands the student to follow it himself. Only the minority of people will turn in the report if they know that they will get a disrespectful attitude due to the errors they have listed.
It is obvious that something should be done to encourage the practice of reporting the errors the pilot faced during the operation of an aircraft, even if these errors are of a personal kind that might be considered as “stupid”. The listing of corrective measures and ideas applied can be started with the vivid case studies, presenting both the situation when the serious accident was avoided due to the data reported, and the situation when the accident took place but could easily be avoided if the report would be filled in. The other possible solutions are that a trusted and respected person should demand to follow rules, i.e. to ask to turn reports in; there should be a friendly and respectful atmosphere within the department; the procedure of filling in the reports should be simple and available, etc. Also, as the researchers mention, the reporters need to assimilate the benefit of reporting (Kohn, Corrigan and Donaldson 105).
All the written above states that the practice of filling in the reports is very important and has to be encouraged by all available means.
Works Cited
Aircrafts Owners and Pilots Association, “General Aviation Safety Record – Current and Historic”. 2015. Web.
Dillman, Brian G., John Voges, and Michael Robertson. “Safety occurrences student perceptions regarding failures to report.” Journal of Aviation Management and Education 1.1 (2011): 1-14. Web.
Federal Aviation Administration, “Lessons Learned from Transport Airplane Accidents”. 2015. Web.
Kohn, Linda. T., Janet. M. Corrigan, and Molla Donaldson. S. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Healthcare System. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000. Print.
Pope, Stephen. Flying. Fatal General Aviation Crashes drop to All-Time Low. 2014. Web.
Review of US Civil Aviation Accidents. Calendar Year 2011. Web.