Developing a model to predict aircraft maintenance performance

Abstract

[Abstract]: A three-pronged approach was adopted to the investigation of causes of maintenance errors in army aviation. In the first phase of the research, analysis of maintenance incident reports suggested that individuals were mostly at fault, making errors because they failed to follow procedures and were inadequately supervised. Interviews with maintenance technicians, on the other hand, put the spotlight on organisational variables, such as pressures created by poor planning. In the third phase, a survey instrument administered to 448 maintenance workers was used to develop a structural model that predicted 34% of the variance in psychological health, 16% of the variance in turnover intentions, and 16% of the variance in self-reported maintenance errors. Implications of these findings are discussed.