Chien-tsung Lu

Benchmarking Airline Service Performance: A Reference Point for Airline and Government Evaluation

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was first announced in the early 1990s as an objective mechanism of measuring airline service performance based on multiple selected criteria important to air travel consumers. Since then, AQR results have assisted the government in decision making and airlines in measuring service quality. Initially, annual AQR reports used weighted averages and monthly performance data in the areas of on-time arrivals, involuntary denied boardings, mishandled baggage and a combination category of customer complaints for which major airline comparative performances were reported. To further strengthen the significance of national AQR results, this article revisited AQR data sets and benchmarked four former reports. This article contains an introduction of benchmarking technique, AQR data collection and calculation, benchmarked results, and charts that help to track comparative service quality for major U.S. airlines’ domestic operations.

Advocating the Implementation of an Airline Safety Information System

Concern for flight safety is at the forefront of attention for airlines, government, and the flying public. But despite the passage of several aviation safety-related bills in the 1990s, the Federal Aviation Administration’s lack of training in airline inspection and reluctance to release safety data has meant that needed airline safety information is still inaccessible to the public. In the aftermath of recent airline tragedies, however, several consumer advocacy groups, investigative commissions, and the popular media have called for an aviation safety ranking system. Such a rating tool would provide both a useful guide and an incentive for an eventual comprehensive system of aviation safety policy. The rating could include rational factors of safety measurements, such as the rate of accidents, rate of fatality, pilot violations, maintenance fraud, financial stability, average age of fleet, and type of enforcement actions (certificate or monetary). And such a rating may provide a model for forecasting airlines at risk as well as a tool for identifying gaps in the architecture of our public aviation infrastructure.

Decision to Use an Airframe Parachute in a Flight Training Environment

The purpose of this study was to complete a qualitative analysis of the decision-making process used by pilots to determine whether or not to deploy an airframe parachute system. A sample of participants from the subject university’s flight training program was selected to complete a scripted simulator flight in instrument flight conditions. During the flight, participants experienced an engine failure while enroute during IFR conditions. The script was examined and validated by an expert panel who determined use of the airframe parachute was the most appropriate outcome for the scenario. Interestingly, only 9 of the 21 participants responded as expected by the expert panel and deployed the parachute system; only three of the nine followed the correct deployment procedure as outlined in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook. Analysis of a post-flight survey completed by participants provides insights into the decision-making process used by pilots and offers explanations on why or why not participants used the airframe parachute.