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DTIC-AD-P010770

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  • 1.12 MB File Size
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  • March 5, 2017 Create Date
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Human Factors in Aircraft Inspection

1. Introduction: Inspection plays a critical role in airworthiness assurance. It is used as the detection system 
for required maintenance procedures and as a final check that the maintenance has been performed correctly. 
Inspection failure at either stage can compromise public safety. A critical defect may remain undetected and 
thus unrepaired, or on aircraft with a procedural enor (e.g. a missing lock-wire) may be released for service. 
These issues have been demonstrated in dramatic fashion in aircraft accidents. In 1988 an Aloha Airlines B- 
737 aircraft suffered fuselage failure from undetected multi-site damage. In addition to aircraft structures, 
inspection errors have caused engine failures, for example the JT8-D failure on takeoff on a Delta flight from 
Pensacola in 1998. In both instances the inspection technique was technically capable of detecting the defect 
(a crack) but the overall system of technology-plus-human inspector failed. These incidents focused attention 
on the role of the human inspector in the technology-plus-inspector system. 
For many years (see Swain, 1990) human factors engineers had been quantifying human reliability using 
techniques derived from system safety. Fault tree analysis (FTA) and Failures Modes and Effects Analysis 
(FMEA) had been employed to determine how failures in the human components of a system affected overall 
system reliability. This set of techniques was first applied to aircraft inspection by Lock and Strutt (1985), 
who used their detailed task description of inspection to derive potential systems improvements. 
Two parallel lines of research also impact on improving human reliability in inspection. First, for many years 
it has been traditional to measure inspection system reliability in terms of the probability of detecting defects 
with specified characteristics under carefully controlled conditions. This set of techniques is used to define the 
inspection system capability, particularly for non-destructive inspection. The second research thread has been 
the on-going study of human factors in industrial and medical inspection. Early realization that industrial 
inspectors were not perfectly reliable led to many hundreds of studies aimed at modeling and improving 
inspection performance.

 

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DTIC-AD-P010770

  • Version
  • 199 Downloads
  • 1.12 MB File Size
  • 1 File Count
  • March 5, 2017 Create Date
  • March 5, 2017 Last Updated
Scroll for Details

Human Factors in Aircraft Inspection

1. Introduction: Inspection plays a critical role in airworthiness assurance. It is used as the detection system 
for required maintenance procedures and as a final check that the maintenance has been performed correctly. 
Inspection failure at either stage can compromise public safety. A critical defect may remain undetected and 
thus unrepaired, or on aircraft with a procedural enor (e.g. a missing lock-wire) may be released for service. 
These issues have been demonstrated in dramatic fashion in aircraft accidents. In 1988 an Aloha Airlines B- 
737 aircraft suffered fuselage failure from undetected multi-site damage. In addition to aircraft structures, 
inspection errors have caused engine failures, for example the JT8-D failure on takeoff on a Delta flight from 
Pensacola in 1998. In both instances the inspection technique was technically capable of detecting the defect 
(a crack) but the overall system of technology-plus-human inspector failed. These incidents focused attention 
on the role of the human inspector in the technology-plus-inspector system. 
For many years (see Swain, 1990) human factors engineers had been quantifying human reliability using 
techniques derived from system safety. Fault tree analysis (FTA) and Failures Modes and Effects Analysis 
(FMEA) had been employed to determine how failures in the human components of a system affected overall 
system reliability. This set of techniques was first applied to aircraft inspection by Lock and Strutt (1985), 
who used their detailed task description of inspection to derive potential systems improvements. 
Two parallel lines of research also impact on improving human reliability in inspection. First, for many years 
it has been traditional to measure inspection system reliability in terms of the probability of detecting defects 
with specified characteristics under carefully controlled conditions. This set of techniques is used to define the 
inspection system capability, particularly for non-destructive inspection. The second research thread has been 
the on-going study of human factors in industrial and medical inspection. Early realization that industrial 
inspectors were not perfectly reliable led to many hundreds of studies aimed at modeling and improving 
inspection performance.

 

FileAction
DTIC-AD-P010770 Human Factors in Aircraft Inspection.pdfDownload 
17,005 Documents in our Technical Library
2439951 Total Downloads

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Newest Additions

NASA-RP-1060 Subsonic Aircraft: Evolution and the Matching of Size to Performance
NASA-RP-1060 Subsonic Aircraft: Evolution and the Matching of Size to Performance
AA-CP-20212-001
AA-CP-20212-001
ADPO10769 Occurrence of Corrosion in Airframes
The purpose of this lecture is to provide an overview ...
MIL-STD-1759 Rivets and Rivet Type Fasteners Preferred for Design
The purpose of this book form standard is to provide ...
MIL-STD-810G Environmental Engineering Considerations and Laboratory Tests
This standard contains materiel acquisition program planning and engineering direction ...