Page 9 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2019 Online Magazine

state of mind, a way of thinking, an attitude in
the daily aspects of operational life. “And that
is precisely what Lion never got. They would
say, ‘the airline has 250 flights a day, it is not
abnormal that you have accidents.’”

Safety Culture
After the 2013 Bali crash, Lion Air co-founder DEBUNKING THE
Rusdi Kirana told media when asked about the
airline’s poor safety record: “If we are seen to OPTIONS MYTH
have many accidents, it’s because of our fre-
quency of flights.” Caron told Reuters that he The suggestion by some media that safety options for the 737 MAX
left Lion Air after some of his safety recom- are lucrative for aircraft manufacturers are utter nonsense. Options
mendations were not implemented. Lion Air are a nightmare for Boeing and Airbus and snarl production lines
rejected all of Caron’s claims. leading to expensive delays. For decades aircraft manufacturers
have striven to limit or eliminate options to make the production
Pondering these tragedies, Meshkati who has process smoother and more profitable.
conducted extensive research on the role of
safety culture in complex technological sys- Balanced against that are many low-cost airlines who insist on
tems failures over the last 30 years, believes stripped down versions to get the lowest cost aircraft thinking that
the safety features are just toys for pilots. Ryan Air in Europe even
that “safety culture is analogous to human stripped out windows shades and seat back pockets in its seats to
body’s “immune system” that protects it against save money.
pathogens and fends off diseases.”
Options evolved as aircraft manufacturers tried to differentiate
And he quotes the renowned professor between their models to win sales and sometimes these options
emeritus of Psychology at the University of involved multiple engines choices, convertible cargo, and lon-
Manchester, James Reason, who is considered ger-range options and sometimes cockpit gimmicks. Airlines also
a founding father of understanding of root- wanted – and still demand- a myriad of cabin changes to get one up
causes of human error and systems failures. on their competitors. This resulted in all sorts of absurd situations
Reason noticed that because of the pervasive such as a famous 101 shades of white paint for the 747. Boeing also
nature of safety culture and its widespread agreed to have switches in the 747 cockpits for one airline going
forward and another going backward. It also offered 27 different
impact “it can affect all elements in a system clipboard options for 747 cockpits.
for good or ill”.
Meshkati also reflects on Nobel laureate Snarled production lines because of a myriad of options forced the
Richard Feynman’s famous observation ‘for famous Douglas Aircraft Company into a disastrous merger with
a successful technology, reality must take McDonnell Aircraft Company in 1967. The company was developing
precedence over public relations, for nature three new models of its famous DC-8 and three model of the then
cannot be fooled’ saying it has relevance to hot selling DC-9 and production lines became chaotic. Some DC-8s
the expectation by the aviation industry and were rolled out with 30,000-man hours of work to be completed.
general public that the new technology being aIn 1997 Boeing was forced to close its 737-production line for
incorporated into the latest generation of air- three weeks a month when it tried to ramp up production too fast
craft will by itself eliminate all airline accidents. and suppliers could not keep up the supply of parts. The costs were
over $2 billion and claimed one of Boeing top leaders. More recently
Meshkati warned in an interview with the author Boeing and Airbus have opted for a no option policy in the cockpit
just before AF447 in 2009 that “all the gee-whiz that 787 and A350 being notable examples. Driving that trend also
technology may be masking a deterioration and are banks and leasing companies that are major buyers of aircraft.
‘de-skilling’ in basic flying ability and that the Part of their business is short term lease to fill gaps in seasonal flying
lessons learned by generations of pilots “may and they want to be able to swap aircraft between airlines without
be lost to the new breed of pilots.” any issues of commonality.

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE March/April 2019 | 9