Most maintainers believe that the aviation industry focuses on the flight 99.9 percent of the time, allotting the remaining 0.1 percent for the other aviation specialties. While those numbers certainly are exaggerated, the reality is that flight-deck issues receive much more attention than any other. That could be because pilot error is the number-one cause of aircraft accidents today. In an effort to arrest these errors, the FAA and Flight Safety Foundation have tried to use technology and training to reduce the trends in CFIT and to increase the use of checklists. Other groups are focusing their efforts on other areas to improve the professionalism of the pilot community.
Despite the fact that it seems to recognize the problems, the industry has not made the same effort for aircraft maintenance and delays action, shying away from the effort necessary to develop a meaningful correction. I hear from mechanics constantly that maintenance manuals cry out for attention. Although there is a requirement in the FARs that Instructions for Continued Airworthiness be provided with every aircraft, the FAA aircraft certification branch has never made any effort to ensure the manuals provided deliver the required information in a manner that is accurate and easy to understand. The FAA takes a different view of the flight procedures manuals, validating and verifying every procedure. I would like to see some of that effort spent on the maintenance manual.
More In Maintenance and Modifications
