Language Error in Aviation Maintenance: Quantifying the Issues and Interventions in Four World Regions

Abstract

There has been a great increase in contract maintenance among major airlines, to a current level of about 50%, with the fastest growing segment of the worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market outside the United States. Although English is the language of aviation, it is certainly not the native language of most of the world. This study assisted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in establishing a method for determining whether language barriers result in maintenance deficiencies. This article examines language error broadly before quantifying the issues and potential interventions for one class of language errors, those related to written documentation. Two studies of language errors in aviation maintenance collected data from 941 participants at 19 maintenance sites in 4 world regions: Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. One survey was administered to assess the incidence of seven language error scenarios, and the factors leading to such errors and their detection. Language errors were found to be relatively common but largely detected before they could propagate through the maintenance system. An intervention test was conducted on the same sample to quantify the effectiveness of language error interventions, including use of European Association of Aerospace Manufacturers (AECMA) Simplified English, translation into the native language, use of an English-speaking coach, and provision of a local language glossary. The quantitative recommendations to both MROs and regulatory bodies for the effective reduction of language errors included the use of translation and language training as the only two effective interventions.

Notes

*Signifies a mean value different from the others at p < .05 on the post hoc Tukey test, or standardized residuals test for chi-square.

**p < .001.