Browsing by Author "Turkoglu, Cengiz"
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Item Open Access Analysis of aircraft maintenance related accidents and serious incidents in Nigeria(MDPI, 2020-12-11) Habib, Khadijah Abdullahi; Turkoglu, CengizThe maintenance of aircraft presents considerable challenges to the personnel that maintain them. Challenges such as time pressure, system complexity, sparse feedback, cramped workspaces, etc., are being faced by these personnel on a daily basis. Some of these challenges cause aircraft-maintenance-related accidents and serious incidents. However, there is little formal empirical work that describes the influence of aircraft maintenance to aircraft accidents and incidents in Nigeria. This study, therefore, sets out to explore the contributory factors to aircraft-maintenance-related incidents from 2006 to 2019 and accidents from 2009 to 2019 in Nigeria, to achieve a deeper understanding of this safety critical aspect of the aviation industry, create awareness amongst the relevant stakeholders and seek possible mitigating factors. To attain this, a content analysis of accident reports and mandatory occurrence reports, which occurred in Nigeria, was carried out using the Maintenance Factors and Analysis Classification System (MxFACS) and Hieminga’s maintenance incidents taxonomy. An inter-rater concordance value was used to ascertain research accuracy after evaluation of the data output by subject matter experts. The highest occurring maintenance-related incidents and accidents were attributed to “removal/installation”, working practices such as “accumulation of dirt and contamination”, “inspection/testing”, “inadequate oversight from operator and regulator”, “failure to follow procedures” and “incorrect maintenance”. To identify the root cause of these results, maintenance engineers were consulted via a survey to understand the root causes of these contributory factors. The results of the study revealed that the most common maintenance-related accidents and serious incidents in the last decade are “collision with terrain” and “landing gear events’’. The most frequent failures at systems level resulting in accidents are the “engines” and “airframe structure”. The maintenance factors with the highest contribution to these accidents are “operator and regulatory oversight”, “inadequate inspection” and “failure to follow procedures”. The research also highlights that the highest causal and contributory factors to aviation incidents in Nigeria from 2006 to 2019 are “installation/removal issues”, “inspection/testing issues”, “working practices”, “job close up”, “lubrication and servicing”, all of which corresponds to studies by other researchers in other countriesItem Open Access A contemporary analysis of aircraft maintenance-related accidents and serious incidents(MDPI, 2020-06-17) Insley, Jennifer; Turkoglu, CengizAircraft maintenance has been identified as a key point of concern within many high-risk areas of aviation; still being a casual/contributory factor in a number of accidents and serious incidents in commercial air transport industry. The purpose of this study is to review and analyse the aircraft maintenance-related accidents and serious incidents which occurred between 2003 and 2017, to provide a better understanding of the causal and contributory factors. To achieve this, a dataset of maintenance-related accidents and serious incidents was compiled and then qualitatively analysed by thematic analysis method. Coding these events by using NVivo software enabled the development of a taxonomy, MxFACS. The coded output was then evaluated by subject matter experts, and an inter-rater concordance value determined to demonstrate the rigour of the research process. Subsequently, the events were evaluated in terms of their relationship to known accident categories such as loss of control, runway excursions. The most frequent maintenance event consequences were found to be runway excursions and air turnbacks, with the second level categories being related to failures in engine and landing gear systems. The greatest maintenance factor issues were ‘inadequate maintenance procedures’ and ‘inspections not identifying defects’. In terms of fatalities, ‘collision events’ were the most prominent consequence, ‘engine-related events’ were the most significant event, and ‘inadequate maintenance procedures’ were the most concerning maintenance factor. The study’s findings may be used in conjunction with existing risk analysis methodologies and enable the stakeholders to develop generic or customised bowties. This may identify the existing barriers in the system as well as weaknesses which will enable the development of mitigation strategies on both organisational and industry-wide levels.Item Open Access Risks associated with aircraft maintenance in European commercial air transport(EDP Sciences, 2019-02-22) Hieminga, Jelle; Turkoglu, CengizIn the 2016 EASA Annual Safety Report, 1318 incidents were categorised as involving a safety issue related to aircraft maintenance. All the Key Risk Areas, or most frequent outcomes, for aircraft maintenance as a safety issue were shown to be related but associated Rulemaking Tasks have not yet appeared in the 2017-2021 European Plan for Aviation Safety. Categorising EU-wide incident reports appears to be difficult due to the use and construction of the ‘Event Types’, or contributing causes, taxonomy used in the reporting tool. Previously developed taxonomies are either limited in the number of categories due to limited information in reports, or they are aimed more at an investigation than straight reporting. As a result, these taxonomies are not suited for use in a reporting tool, and these taxonomies lack the detail for focused feedback to the maintenance industry. Thus, a two-level taxonomy has been developed within this study, using a high-level overview of the maintenance process as a basis for the first level and a variation of descriptions, both specific and more broad-spectrum, for the second level. A set of 3910 incident reports from the central repository were analysed, causing 2677 incidents to be excluded for a variety of reasons such as a lack of information (the narrative was empty in 1100 reports or 28%), or the use of a language other than English (814 incidents, 21%). The remaining 1232 incident reports were categorised using the new taxonomy. Of these, 361 incidents occurred during installation of components (29%) and 308 incidents were related to maintenance control (25%). The increased level of detail from the new taxonomy allows for identification of procedure types that are more susceptible to errors, such as installing or removing components or deferral of a defect so that an aircraft can be dispatched. This will hopefully lead to increased vigilance as well as further measures to increase safety.