ERAU

Human error remains the leading cause of aviation accidents, and pressure is almost always at found next to route cause. Whether it is scheduling demands or financial targets, the environment often shifts the focus from following procedures to simply getting the task completed. As highlighted in the FAA's dirty dozen (FAA, 2018), this type of environment greatly heightens the chances of making mistakes. Pressure fundamentally disrupts judgment and alters risk perception. When the staff feel rushed, they are more inclined to cut corners, skip checklist items, or overlook verification steps. These behaviors are often sporadic but deliberate, violations of these kinds are frequently justified as necessary to keep operations running smoothly and according to schedule (Transport Canada, 2017). The wider implications for safety include the deterioration of established safeguards. When under pressure, safety protocols and regulations may be perceived as a hindrance rather than a prote...

In-Flight Separation of Left Mid Exit Door Plug, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, Boeing 737-9, N704AL     As an aviation safety manager, a recent event that strongly reinforces the importance of organizational oversight for me is the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 involving the Boeing 737-9 MAX. Where, shortly after departure, the aircraft experienced a rapid decompression when the door plug became separated from the fuselage forcing an emergency landing  (NTSB, 2024). While the flight landed safely, this incident pointed an immediate spotlight on the manufacturing process to include production quality and in-process verification. From my perspective this event was significant because it demonstrated how hazards can originate and lead to a downstream effect, emphasizing that safety is just as important in the manufacturing processes as it is in the cockpit or maintenance hangar (Francis, 2024).      The impact of this incident on current and future practices is s...

       Unfortunately I cannot find an accurate statistic of just how many plane crashes have been caused due to icing, if you want consider research done by wiki, you could say 44 incidents and accidents. If you wanted to use a number provided by "Scientific American" Ice accounts for approximately 9.2% of all fatal air carrier accidents (Borrell, 2009). Nevertheless, icing conditions IS considered a major flight hazard to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and I feel as though it poses the greatest risk to aviation operators. According to weather.gov, the conditions that much be met in order to create icing conditions is; Air temperature colder than 0 degrees celcius or colder and supercool liquid water droplets or wet snowflakes (NOAA, n.d.). Something to note is 14 CFR 91.527 Operating in icing conditions where I beleive some of the most critical points are that, "No pilot may take off an airplane that has frost, ice or snow adhereing to any properllar, win...

The two air traffic control entities that I am choosing to discuss compare and contrast are air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs) and terminal radar approach control (TRACON). I found both of these entities to hold vast differences in their everyday function as well as similarities in working together in everyday life.  There are currently 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) located in major hubs across the United States, the purpose of these ARTCCs is to provide air traffic control services to aircraft operating on instrument flight rule (IFR) within controlled airspace (FAA, n.d.). ARTCCs have direct communication capabilities with IFR air traffic within their given vicinity which can range for hundreds of miles. Through this, ARTCCs provide flight plans, en route weather, and weather forecasts (Flyers, 2020). Because ARTCCs are divided into sectors, they each have their own frequency used for communications with aircraft within their sectors (Flyers, 2020). There ...

Our world is changing, by us, with us and through us. Today some of the biggest concerns are the push for clean energy, the conservation of lands and to limit the carbon footprint so that future generations may live in a world that is better, cleaner and more effieicnt than the one we have today.  With that being said, I believe that the biggest concern for an airport manager is pollution, more specifically site pollution and emissions. Unfortunately, pollution is a global issue, however I will only be concerned about thoughts from articles related to the United States regarding pollution. According to the Air Transport Action Group, 2020 the aviation industry accounts for 2.1 percent of all C02 emmissions as well as aviation accounting for 12 percent of all tansportation related emmissions (Air Transport Action Group, 2020). Throughout the different stages of flight, the gasses from aircraft engines create different types of negative impacts (Sameh & Scavuzzi, 2016). On ground...

,  Title 14 / Chapter I / Subchapter C / Part 43 / 43.12       After some pretty shallow research I have come to find what I believe is the most influential Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) for the industry. Title 14 - Chapter I - Subchapter - C - Part 43  - 43.12 Otherwise known as Maintenance records: Falsification, reproduction, or alteration.  What does this mean to me? It means negligence, it means a lack of ownership in your work. Willingly and purposefully falsefying or altering manitenance records is the coward's way of saying you cannot trust your own work so you must hide it.  This is deep for me, I have seen aircraft go down, I have seen people lose their lives because of this, I have seen people lose qualifications. I have both been a part of investigations and I have been investigated. In my 6 years eperience in engine manufacturing assembly and test, the only reason I have ever seen a rhyme or reason for someone to want to falsify m...