How does Quality Control affect aviation outside of manufacturing an aircraft?
When I think of quality control, I think of a manufacturing plant and quality control person showing up on the
line to grab a product at the end of the assembly line for testing and quality assurance purposes. How does the
process of ensuring that the latest food processer is reliable relate to aviation? The answer is that both the
assembly line worker and aviation have a product that we tell Joe Q. Public is safe and reliable.
In aviation, recurrent training and parodic checks test an individual’s skills, abilities, and knowledge. In general
aviation, Inspection Authorization (IA) maintainers look over the work already completed on an aircraft.
Certified Flight Instructions (CFIs) who perform periodic flight reviews of pilot’s skills, abilities, and knowledge.
Airlines and other organizations train and perform routine checks of aviation personal engaged in-flight safety
jobs to the same or higher level than those on the general aviation side.
The functions of checking and training are part of aviation’s quality control. They provide the oversight vital to
the safety of the national airspace system. For those on the front line of aviation, we must demand from
ourselves the same level of skills, abilities, and knowledge that we expect from the person next to us. Quality
control in aviation is vital as our lives or the lives of our loved ones depend on it.
Grosenick, Chris. 1 August 2002. Quality Assurance: How does it impact maintenance?. Aviation Pros.
Accessed 26 January 2021 https://www.aviationpros.com/education-training/article/10387519/qualityassurance-how-does-it-impact-maintenance (Links to an external site.)
McNeese, Bill. April 2013. Making Sense of Data: SPC and Aviation. SPC for Excel. Accessed 26 January
2021 https://www.spcforexcel.com/knowledge/control-chart-examples/making-sense-data-spc-and-aviation
(Links to an external site.)
Stolzer, A. J., & Goglia, J. J. (2015). Safety management systems in aviation. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.