Safety Criminalization

A key to maintaining top safety levels in aviation is being able to identify and solve problems before they develop into accidents. Aviation has traditionally assumed a “just culture” where admitting errors is encouraged and punishment is withheld (excluding intentional acts). However, in recent years some countries have pursued criminal charges against pilots. A concern in the aviation safety community is whether or not the increase in criminal charges against pilots will have the unintended consequence of destroying just culture and actually result in a safety decrease across the industry. Additionally, no prior study which we are aware of has investigated this topic from an empirical standpoint. Therefore, the purpose of this research study is to identify the perceptions of passengers on whether or not criminal charges should be filed against pilots for varying accidents and by the gender of the participant. The preliminary findings indicate that passenger’s perceptions towards criminalization of pilots does significantly vary based on the type of accident scenario. There was no significant difference based on participant gender. The study identifies the practical applications of these findings and provides recommendations for future research

Personal Safety Culture: A New Measure for General Aviation Pilots

Safety culture has been a subject of research for over three decades and is now widely accepted as a critical component of organizational safety programs both domestically and internationally. Through the development of a healthy safety culture, aviation organizations can improve safety processes, reduce mishaps, and mitigate risk more effectively. This is done through the holistic team efforts of an organization’s members and the organization’s leadership. How about aviators who are not part of an organization? Is it possible to identify a personal safety culture defined outside of the traditional organization? And, is it possible to create an instrument allowing pilots to conduct a self-assessment of their personal safety culture? The current research seeks to address these questions by developing such an instrument to measure personal safety culture in General Aviation pilots. The first version of the instrument was developed using resources from prior research studies and a literature review of over 160 publications. It was initially sent to experts in civilian aviation, academia and military sectors who conducted face validity assessments. Once revised, the instrument was tested using a sample drawn from a large southeastern university in the United States. All pilots were required to hold at least a private pilot certificate. A factor analysis conducted on the results of the preliminary study indicate factors that account for a significant amount of the variance in the model. These results are presented with recommendations for application of the self-assessment and thoughts on future research

Personal Safety Culture: A New Measure for General Aviation Pilots

Safety culture has been a subject of research for over three decades and is now widely accepted as a critical component of organizational safety programs both domestically and internationally. Through the development of a healthy safety culture, aviation organizations can improve safety processes, reduce mishaps, and mitigate risk more effectively. This is done through the holistic team efforts of an organization’s members and the organization’s leadership. How about aviators who are not part of an organization? Is it possible to identify a personal safety culture defined outside of the traditional organization? And, is it possible to create an instrument allowing pilots to conduct a self-assessment of their personal safety culture? The current research seeks to address these questions by developing such an instrument to measure personal safety culture in General Aviation pilots. The first version of the instrument was developed using resources from prior research studies and a literature review of over 160 publications. It was initially sent to experts in civilian aviation, academia and military sectors who conducted face validity assessments. Once revised, the instrument was tested using a sample drawn from a large southeastern university in the United States. All pilots were required to hold at least a private pilot certificate. A factor analysis conducted on the results of the preliminary study indicate factors that account for a significant amount of the variance in the model. These results are presented with recommendations for application of the self-assessment and thoughts on future research