Nick Sabatini, the Federal Aviation Administration’s associate administrator for aviation safety, says “addressing the human element may well be one of the last frontiers in aviation safety.”
Speaking at the 19th FAA/ATA International Symposium on Human Factors in Maintenance and Ramp Safety, Orlando, FL, Sept. 5-6, 2007, the top U.S. aviation agency safety official said “We aviation safety professionals are in the business of risk management. As long as humans are involved, as long as we are defying gravity, as long as there is equipment in motion on the airport surface, there will be risk. Our job is to eliminate risk, and if we can’t eliminate risk, to minimize it. We know we have our work cut out for us.”
The FAA veteran said there are three big reasons why maintaining a low accident rate is only going to get more challenging. The first reason is growing demand. “Passenger demand is projected to double by 2025. Some 4,000 new airliner aircraft will enter the U.S. market over the next decade. Over that same period, it’s projected that some 5,000 Very Light Jets will be flying in our airspace. Furthermore, we’re going to see more and more unmanned aircraft operations.”
Sabatini also sees “dramatic” changes in how aviation conducts its business. “Look at the changes in manufacturing. A generation ago, design, production, and assembly work for Boeing aircraft was done in Seattle. Now design and production for the 787 wings is being done by Mitsubishi in Japan and shipped back to the United States for assembly. Mitsubishi is just one of more than 40 worldwide suppliers contributing parts and components to the 787.”
He says airline maintenance is also changing dramatically with an across the board migration of airline maintenance to third-party providers
Sabatini said the FAA is developing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on maintenance training. “Our intention is to revise the FAA’s maintenance training regulations for part 121 and 135 carriers operating aircraft with a passenger-seating capacity of 10 or more. The proposal would revise the rules to reflect technological advances in aircraft structure, components, and systems that have evolved over the seven decades since these regulations were first adopted. It will also incorporate a human factors approach to maintenance training as suggested by our workforce and in response to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations. ”