Ground Handling Complacency

By GySgt Stanley Berry

We have all heard the saying that “complacency kills.” That statement cannot be argued; therefore, it must be reinforced. Everyone is guilty of it. Complacency is human nature anytime repetition or high tempo are factors. It is no different when it comes to aircraft maintenance and ground handling. From April 2019 to April 2020, there were over 100 groundhandling mishaps throughout the fleet and nearly all of them had complacency as a contributing factor.

These mishaps include towing evolutions, wing fold or spread impacts, driving support equipment into aircraft and manual blade rotation impacts. During this timeframe, groundhandling mishaps accounted for nearly eight million dollars in aircraft damage and 20 injuries. Complacency also creates an increased maintenance tempo from the loss of aircraft available for the flight schedule due to increased turnarounds, scheduled inspections, configuration, and movement of available aircraft.

In February 2020, I completed a study on the impacts of crunch mishaps in the F/A18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler communities from FY-15. While applicable to all Type/Model/Series (T/M/S), this study displayed a significant impact in monetary repair costs, replacement parts, reduced aircraft availability for training, unscheduled maintenance man-hours, and a drain on an already exhausted parts supply system. Figure 1 displays the rate of ground handling mishaps in the past year by T/M/S. Figure 2 displays the casual factors of all the mishaps reviewed in the study. Nearly 80 percent of all aviation mishaps and hazards are due to human causal factors or errors, and almost all of them are avoidable.

To achieve our goal of zero preventable mishaps, we must seek innovative ways to mitigate the human dimension’s risks in the man-machine-environment interface that leads to error-based mishaps. While aircraft across the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) are increasingly technologically advanced, the training for aviation maintainers in terms of quality, sophistication, and training media is not keeping pace. The result is a default in reliance on on-the job training (OJT). The study sought out emerging technologies such as augmented reality, holograms and virtual reality, which are within our grasp to build tools to influence the cognitive domain and make our aircraft maintainers better. These technologies would be similar to simulation training for pilots, allowing maintainers to get repetitions on specific tasks anytime without the burden of time and opportunity constraints.

In the meantime, unit leadership must stay vigilant and ensure tow tractor licensing and training, tow crew supervisor training, briefs, maintenance publications, and collateral duty inspector (CDI) training are utilized effectively and efficiently to overcome the trending ground handling mishaps. As with most issues, continuous leadership and supervision are among the best course of action to mitigate complacency and reduce accidents from ground handling and most other incidents.

The best performing commands the Naval Safety Center assesses have CDIs, quality assurance representatives, Chiefs and staff non-commissioned officers that are continuously on the flight line and inside the hangar, monitoring daily activities.

Ground Loops

Follow proper safety practices to reduce the risk of accidents. Electrical cables, tow bars, hoses, chocks, improperly stowed tools, test sets and general clutter can trip you up. Proper lighting, awareness of your surroundings and attention to detail can keep hangar and flight line or deck accidents at bay.