'Big data' trend analysis?
Years ago, a client I worked with was in the business of performing data extraction and analysis of manufacturer warranty repairs and maintenance records for auto makers, appliance makers and such. The theory was that they were able to crunch this data, which involved text as well as numeric data, and tease out trends that could result in recalls well before millions of units were in the field.
Not knowing anything about the aircraft industry and what systems are in place to record and track aircraft performance, maintenance and incident data, I was just curious if there are any similar big data type analysis systems in place, either by aircraft or component manufacturers or the government to help spot trends and nip problems in the bud. Couldn't this kind of analysis also be applied to human issues like the recent complaints by some about a decline in piloting skills and an inability to manually fly aircraft?