Safety Problems In America's Commercial Airline Industry
1989 has been a year in which both aviation experts and spokesmen. For the flying public have expressed intensified concern over what they perceive to be a substantial deterioration in the safety of America's passenger airline operations. In the first nine months of 1989 alone, there have been ten fatal air crashes involving large transport-category planes owned by U.S. based carriers (Ott p.28). This compares disfavorably to the first nine of months of 1988, when but two such accidents took place, and in fact, it is the highest number of death-causing accidents for the American commercial aviation industry during the 1980s (Fotos p.31). This spate of airborne tragedies has prompted interested parties to ask a series of disturbing questions. Is it now safe to fly on American owned airlines, and, related to this, is it now riskier to board these planes than it was before industry deregulation took place in 1978? What, if any, specific factors have contributed to the perceived decline in the industry's safety standards? Finally, what, if anything, can be done to enhance the airworthiness of U.S. passenger planes and to improve the safety performance of the crews who man them? In this paper, all three of these questions will be addre
The heart of the problem with the commuter airlines resides in the shrinking pool of qualified pilots available to them (Ott p.28). Generally offering lower pay than the majors, the commuter lines have experienced a drain of talent as many of their most experienced pilots have left to take positions with the majors. In 1985, major U.S. carriers hired some 7,600n new pilots; the majority of them previously worked for commuter airlines (McConnel p.209). At the same time, willingness of the majors to accept less qualified pilots from sources apart from the regionals has decreased the quality of regional hires yet another notch (Pilot Turnover...p.91). The trend toward less experienced crews in this segment of the industry is undeniable. " The pilots hired by U.S. regionals who had less than 2,000 hr. flight time rose 22.3% of those hired in 1985 to 36.2% in the first six months of 1989 (Ott p.29). In addition to a declining level of experience in the cockpits of commuter aircraft, these pilots face demands that often exceed those placed upon pilots working for the majors. under-equipped airfields, and in addition must plan routes, Hoffer, William. " Horror in the Skies," Popular Mechanics. Vol. ClXVI, No.6 (June, 1989),
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Approximate Word count = 2316
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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