Ethics in Aviation
Ethics is doing what is right morally. Pilots have an moral obligation to take passengers from point A to B as safe as possible. We as passengers expect the pilots to act in an ethical manner, that they uphold their responsibilities in the highest regard. We expect that flight maintainers take care of the planes they work on because a mistake can lead to death. We as passengers expect that our air crew follows ethical principals to ensure mission safety.
In 2009, flight 3407 crashed in Buffalo, NY, taking 50 lives on board. As with any safety mishap in the flight industry we expect the crash to be investigated to find out the root cause of the accident. According to Hoppe (2019) found the probable cause of the accident was the captain's inappropriate response to the activation of the stick shaker [the stick shaker warns a pilot of an impending wing aerodynamic stall], which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover. Contributing to the accident were: (1) the flight crew's failure to monitor airspeed in relation to the rising position of the lowspeed cue, (2) the flight crew's failure to adhere to sterile cockpit procedures, (3) the captain's failure to effectively manage the flight, and (4) Colgan Air's inadequate procedures for airspeed selection and management during approaches in icing conditions (p.1-2). The inactions of the company, crew, and the pilot specifically, placed everyone in danger and ended in everyone's death. Through further investigations the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found countless other failures that were missed.
This company and personnel displayed poor set of principles when flying a airliner with passengers who expect safety first.
Hoppe, E. (2019). Ethical issues in aviation. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
While a passenger expects people who work in airplanes that is good in theory. Ethics is that great large grey area that cannot be clearly defined. With Ethics meaning something different to everyone we cannot trust in someone with good ethics because we truly don’t know the motivation behind those ethics. According to Thomas Aquinas “Doctrine of Double Effect” even though it is considered ethically wrong to kill someone it could also be consider ethically right to kill someone if you are doing to promote good in the end. With this in mind ethics cannot be a guiding foundation for aviation.
ReplyDeleteIn the aviation community we have a strict standard of training and certifications. Even with all these regulations in effect accidents happen. While flight 3407 in 2009 seems to be a failure of training and following established procedures. Did the aircrew knowingly violate this procedures, were not experienced enough to fly in certain conditions or was there a lack of proper training?