What Does Ethics in the Aviation Profession Mean to You?

 

Depending on the individual and their point of view on things, ethics, in my opinion, is a principle that can shape in both positive and negative ways. The term "ethics" refers to the principles of conduct that govern an individual or a group of people. My concern is that none of the many definitions provided by Merriam-Webster specify that ethics is necessarily good or bad, only that it is how an individual chooses to deal with situations in the first place. My belief in the importance of ethics is that it provides a road map for how an individual will approach a given situation while also providing others with some insight into what kind of person that individual is.

             Ethical Issues in Aviation examines both historical and current aviation issues (Hoppe, 2019). I believe that ethical behavior is essential in the aviation industry. For one thing, reputation is important, and having a bad one will not get you very far in life; but, more importantly, unethical behavior has the potential to be lethal in the field of aviation. Theft of candy, for example, can be excused by a person with questionable ethics in everyday life. But failing to perform a safety check on engine installation or failing to ensure that the engine inlet is clear before starting an aircraft can result in catastrophic damage or, in the worst-case scenario, death to those who are affected by it. As a maintainer, I was tempted to cut corners or skip inspections on occasion, but a voice in the back of my mind always convinced me to reconsider my decision. My theory is that I rethought it because I realized that in the long run, it would only take few minutes of my time to ensure that something was done correctly, rather than having the death of another human on my conscience as a result of my laziness.

 

Reference:

Hoppe, E. (2019). Ethical issues in aviation (Second ed.). Routledge.