What Does Ethics in the Aviation Profession Mean to You?

 

When you look up the definition of ethics in Merriam-webster you'll find it means the discipline dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation. Though we don’t think about this word often the good and bad in the world and how we view it affects our every choice in life. You can have a bad day at home, and you choose if you’ll let that bad day affect you at work too. Now how does ethics pertain to the aviation profession? I’m a maintainer so I see it as if you make a mistake that will cost the company money, put someone’s life at risk, slow down production or just make you look bad it’s your good ethics that guides you to let someone know. I’ve worked at places where we provide our own tools and check our own tools, meaning the company relies on that built up trust that we will report if we are missing a tool because of our moral compasses. Because it's just our words that our tools are all there each day. Someone with bad ethics could lose a tool and not report it and put lives in danger. On March 20 2017 a wester airlines plane was taken down due to a missing tool.  Western Airlines Swearingen SA226TC Metro II N158WA was taken down because of a missing screwdriver. It caused damage to the blades and 3 holes in the fuselage. It goes on to say they don’t know if the tool control procedures were used. All of this damage could have been easily prevented if this screwdriver was reported missing. And lives were put in danger because of it. This is why ethics in aviation are important.

References

 

fodprevention, & A. (2018, November 27). Forgotten Tools Equal FOD Accidents, SA226 N158WA – FOD Prevention (Foreign Object Debris Prevention). FOD Prevention. https://fodprevention.com/forgotten-tools-equal-fod-accidents-sa226-n158wa/

ethic. (n.d.). The Merriam-Webster.Com Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic