What Does Ethics in the Aviation Profession Mean to You?

Merriam-Webster defines ethics as: "the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation."  The second definition is, "a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values."

I hold this very near and dear to my heart in Aviation.  I began my career in Aviation as an aircraft maintainer.  My job was to ensure the maintenance was completed to very high standards.  I always took great pride in my work. It was hard for me to understand why I had a team lead who checked my work, then a Technical inspector that checked it, then the Test Pilot checked it, then if it got past those levels of inspection and the aircraft was deemed flight worthy, it would go out for a test flight with the most experienced of pilots.  It was hard for me to understand until I was able to move up to a Technical Inspector role, then to the Quality Control Supervisor role then to the Maintenance Supervisor role.  

I have seen young soldiers as well as civilian maintainers come and go while trying to do the bare-minimum to pass work just because they want to go to lunch, or simply want to move on to the next thing.  

This is where Ethics come into play.


In the image above, it may seem like something trivial. What do you think would happen if one of those bolts came loose and flew into the engine at low airspeed and altitude

Speaking about the strictly the maintenance side of Aviation; without a set code or moral guideline, the whole system could fail, and the catastrophic loss of life would be devastating.  

Imagine the mechanic, Team Lead, Technical Inspector,  as well as the Test Pilot having no regard for ethics and values.  This translates to poor maintenance, unworthy airplanes, and aircraft mishaps.  It all starts with ethics in my opinion, as Aviation is a serious business. When the population of the world trusts your decision making as well as technical ability to get them from place to place, the burden is on every person in the chain to retain their trust. Non-ethical individuals need not apply. 

Reference:

"ethic." 2021. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved April 21st, 2021 from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethics


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