What Does Ethics in the Aviation Profession Mean to Me?

Ethics First and Foremost

Ethics to me is one of the most important disciplines for an aviation professional to have considering what is at stake .  I have 8 years of aircraft maintenance experience from serving in the US Air Force but in a broader sense I have been around aviation since I was a baby.  The foundation that we were instilled with in the military was to do the right thing no matter the consequences for the safety of yourself,  the potential passengers, and the crew that will be flying the airplane.  We are taught about human factors and how they impact the aviation profession both good and bad.  As humans, we are inherently imperfect which leads to mistakes and errors but these can be reduced in many ways if we all practice ethical discipline.  But by having good ethical discipline and identifying/reporting these mistakes and errors, even when no one else was around, is essential in the safety chain to prevent future incidents(Stanford & Homan, 1999). As an aviation professional it essential we follow an ethical discipline to ensure our fellow aviation professionals and customers stay safe.

In my unit we follow what we call "SAMFOX standards" which are a set of standards that drive us to perfection in each of our crew positions.  These standards are tough but they guide us to make the right decision and to correct situations that are not within those standards.  We have a lot external pressure to complete our missions which can lead to short cuts or workarounds for maintenance issues instead of fixing them correctly. I've been in many situations where I have had to make the unpopular decision to ground/delay an airplane to fix a discrepancy that would risk the safety of myself and that of everyone onboard(Hoppe,2018).  The most recent ethical dilemma was actually yesterday where I discovered a corroded guide vane in the right engine while on a quick ground stop (See attached images).  I could've looked past it to get home on time but instead I took a closer look and found more damage than what could be seen from the ground.  The corrosion was out of limits by a huge margin so the plane was grounded.  Our pilots were pushing us to fly with the damage since it was not a risk to the core of the engine.  I did have those same thoughts but I couldn't ethically let the plane fly knowing that the damage was technically grounding.  My fellow maintainer and I stood by our decision to find a proper fix for the aircraft to be airworthy.  We followed our technical data and with come guidance from the manufacturer's representative performed a temporary fix allowing us to make a safe flight to home station. To wrap things up, I apologize for the long post but this topic is one that I take to heart and as you can see ethics is extremely vital to the safety and success of aviation.

Abbreviations:

SAMFOX: Special Air Missions & Foreign Operations

References:

Hoppe, Elizabeth A. (2019) Ethical Issues in Aviation. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/lib/erau/reader.action?docID=5569439.

Stanford, LaMarr., & Homan, Willem. (1999, Fall). A Model of "Applied Ethics" in Aviation Safety: The Aviation Reporting System. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 9(1), Article 1.
 https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1689525261?pq-origsite=summon.