Maintenance check flight accidents (a new approach to air safety investigations)

Maintenance check flight accidents (a new approach to air safety investigations)

In the wake of several serious post-maintenance check flight accidents and incidents, the airline industry adopted a new operational risk management framework. This research study found a misalignment between the traditional safety response and the underlying causal patterns elicited from accident investigation reports. From a system safety perspective, the industry must recognise the novel safety hazards associated with highly automated airliners, otherwise, the unmitigated systemic risk will lead to further accidents. Owing to the lack of studies and safety statistics on the topic, the research project started with building a comprehensive catalogue of non-routine flight occurrences for Western-built commercial jet airliners. Once maintenance check flight investigation records were identified, systemic causal and contributing factors were extracted and assembled into a knowledge map. Finally, grounded in an embedded multi-case study across three different airliner generations, a refined accident model was developed for check flight accident causation. Common patterns were traced to the underlying regulatory framework and the way systemic causes propagate through operational and design pathways. The study concluded with practical recommendations for the industry, supported by further research ideas which may offer additional insights into the non-routine safety problem.

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