It has to be assumed that humans ( tug drivers and ATC, pilots) will make mistakes because they will, guaranteed. With that in mind these fallable Humans need to work within ' error tolerant systems'.
Who is responsible for the systems?
Not the people operationally involved.
It would surprises me if the ethos driving the move towards replacing Engineers on pushback ( a change to the system) wasn't the same ethos that meant the Jetstar aircraft had to hold short of the gate. ie we can reduce staff numbers and get more work out of people and therefore be more efficient.
So in my mind these decisions to make the system less error tolerent are the greatest concern or causal factor.
Someone mentioned Insurance companies. If they refuse to pay out it might make the KPI chasers sit up a bit.
Framer
Ps I am not suggesting that operational staff aren't responsible for doing their job properly, just pointing out that it goes deeper than the ramp environment.
Last edited by framer; 10th Aug 2013 at 22:58.