The risks associated with being an Accountable Manager in aviation maintenance are only acceptable if the regulations are written and implemented to ensure no ambiguity exists.

Unfortunately EASA is bowing to commercial pressure by allowing effective Aviation regulations that are currently being drafted by the Agency to be compromised. Available Loopholes in methods of compliance are growing as more and more money managers force the industry to seek out the cheapest method of application in all aviation related areas due to relentless cost cutting (ref daily mail Aug 28 2007).

Maintenance is invisible to all but those directly involved, therefore it easily lends itself as a natural soft target and the trend in standards and safety is worrying. The most astonishing fact is that the European aviation agency and the various member state transport ministers will not stand strong against the might of industry and commerce.

Their reasoning is that the statistics show air travel to be safe. This fact appears to give cost cutters the right to amend the rules until the cheapest method of maintenance is found. Trial and error until the lowest acceptable practices are discovered; the problem with this of course, is that it will cost lives. What is continuously overlooked by the money men and others is the basic fact that the high safety statistics were achieved because of high standards and levels of investment and not in spite of them.

Licensed aircraft engineers are one of those critical safety stops that are currently being targeted. This independently qualified specialist often stands alone against the incessant cost cutting and should only certify an aircraft as safe to fly once all required maintenance has been performed to a satisfactory standard. In theory they should have the full support of the company behind them but in practice they are considered the enemy of large profits. In the past 30 years there has been 3 failed attempts to remove this specialist from industry altogether. Industry however has healed its wounds and is now coming from a different angle.

Demographic trends dictate that in the next 10-15 years the airlines will lose a vast amount of experienced engineers to retirement. Yet industry is not investing in training a new generation to the highest levels it is actively working on lowering the standards bar to such a level that numbers will be met at the expense of quality which by default affects safety.

History unfortunately dictates that the money men won’t listen and it will take several tragedies similar to the Helios disaster before regulations are tightened and industrial body’s such as the Association of European Airlines are controlled in a way that the public expect and count on. The railways are a recent tragic example of what happens once the cutbacks take effect.

The Accountable Manager is being pushed between a rock and a hard place. At the moment the odds are stacked against him in the event of a tragedy. He will stand alone when the corporate manslaughter charges are brought against him. There will be no sign of the main players that drove standards down being brought to justice as they will have been long gone. United we stand, divided we fall. This part of the regulation is clear, one may even suggest quite clever.

Aircraft Engineers International / Association of Licensed Aircraft Engineers, UK