Aviation Industry Interviews

In examining the impact of economic deregulation on safety in the aviation industry, the literature surveyed in the previous chapter provides an excellent starting point. In particular, two books based on interviews with airline pilots, mechanics, FAA inspectors, accident investigators, and others (O Malley, 1993 Nance, 1986) provide first-hand perspectives on experiences in the aviation industry in the years after deregulation. These books serve as a useful supplement to the statistical analyses and other empirical data stunmarized in Chapter 2, and provide detailed information based on extensive interviews. 

Of the five interviews summarized in this chapter, all were with individuals who had at least 20 years of experience in the aviation industry, and three of them had close to 30 years of experience. Although relatively few interviews were conducted, the interview candidates were chosen for their extensive experience, and in some cases their role as opinion leaders within the industry. Therefore, they can appropriately be viewed as experts, rather than as a representative sample from within the industry. 

All of the interviewees have held positions directly related to safety, such as director of flight safety, general manager of safety, vice president of 

The interviews were conducted by telephone between August and December 1999, and took approximately forty-five minutes to an hour to complete. In order to make the respondents comfortable, the interviews were not tape recorded, and the questions were open-ended in nature. The interviews addressed areas that were not adequately covered in the existing literature, but also included some discussion of topics extensively discussed in the literature. 

Another safety issue cited by one respondent was the need to gather and disseminate real-time weather information. A respondent whose primary area of responsibility is in maintenance cited the problems of aging aircraft as 

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