The Need for Quality Aviation Safety Graduates: An Educational Challenge

Abstract

The authors investigated a previously unaddressed problem within curricula of the United States (U.S.) aviation institutions of higher education. Graduates of these institutions were not being prepared to work within safety departments of the U.S. air carriers involved with one or more of the five current, voluntary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs. To ascertain the need for a solution, a subjective instrument was developed and personally administered to 13 participants within the industry. The qualitative results were interpreted, and, in combination with the knowledge gained from the immersion of a professor within a research organization, resulted in the curricular placement of some of the aforementioned content on one campus of one U.S. aviation university during the spring semester of 2005.

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