Caught at the Gate: Human Factors Issues in Aircraft Maintenance Operations Have Changed in the Last 30 Years

Airline maintenance reports from NASA’s Aviation Safety ReportingSystem (ASRS) have been used to identify human factors issues (c.f.,Geibel et al., 2008; Hobbs & Kanki, 2008; Veinott & Kanki, 1995).However, each of these studies focused on different aspects of aircraftmaintenance operations. In the current study, we compared 333 ASRSmaintenance incident reports (Part 121) from 2010-2020 using the samecoding scheme as Veinott and Kanki (1995). Each report was coded for thetype of error (e.g., wrong part, procedural error, non-procedural error),contributing factor (individual, team, procedure, or tools), and airlineoperational impact (e.g., delay at gate, air return, or flown to destination) toexamine if the distribution of errors has shifted over the last 30 years. Chisquaredtests of association showed that error type was associated with bothcontributing factors and operational outcomes. Procedural errors (56%)were still the most common, while both individual (36%) and team actions(37.4%) continue to be the common contributing factors. However, therehave been shifts in the operational impact since 1995 with more errors beingcaught at the gate. These results suggest shifts and improvements in aircraftmaintenance training and operations.