Writing

Shuttle Columbiau will read 10 pages (180-190) of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident report and at least 10 items related to our 11 learning outcomes (listed at the end). Time will be given as an option for those in class. After reading the report, where would you have seen Outcomes six and seven below?

You have to explain the Learning Objectives to meet the assignment requirements, Don’t simply list them without explanation.

Ex:

Learning Outcome 6. Discuss aviation safety and security concerns including, Safety Management Systems (SMS),

aircraft accident prevention, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) regulations on

accident reporting, and the regulations, policies, and procedures of the Transportation Security

Agency.

Learning Outcome 7. Determine the responsibilities of operators, pilots, mechanics, managers, and owners regarding human factors and team resource management.

Objective was to identify a learning outcome in the report. Example:

The first outcome that immediately leaps out is the role of a safety management system. With these high-risk endeavors, the High Reliability Theory states that if the operations are properly designed and managed, they can compensate for human shortcomings. What makes an operation like this successful is emphasizing the commitment to building strong safety strategies. Unfortunately for NASA, they became complacent in that commitment.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain the qualifications, attributes, ethics and responsibilities of aviation professionals.
2. Explain the aerodynamic considerations and performance capabilities of aircraft.
3. Describe aircraft systems to identify aviation reliability and maintainability concerns.
4. Explain the role of Safety Management System (SMS) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in accident prevention.
5. Determine the responsibilities of stakeholders in developing and maintaining a positive human factors climate.
6. Explain the framework of National and International Laws and Regulations that regulate the aviation industry.
7. Explain airport design, development and operations.
8. Explain the basic structure of the National Airspace System (NAS).
9. Explain aviation weather hazards.
10. Explain current aviation security concerns and mitigation strategies.

This leads right into outcome one and the responsibility and ethics of aviation professionals. The lack of communication between supporting organizations played a huge role.

In addition to the lack of communication, the lack of aerodynamic considerations was also a fault. NASA had begun to normalize foam strikes as just a simple maintenance issue and wasn’t a threat to the mission. This proved to be quite the opposite in the case of the Challenger.

This brings us to the important aspect of identifying reliability and maintainability concerns. If the foam strikes were paid as much attention as the engines and boosters, this could have been prevented.