Cessna Citation Service Centers Complete Round of Human Factors Training

Wichita, Kan.– Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has completed an initial round of concentrated human factors training for nearly 1,400 employees at its nine Citation Service Centers located throughout the United States.

The training assists employees in identifying factors that could contribute to errors and arms them with strategies to diminish such errors. After the initial round of classroom training, Cessna has begun recurrent human factors training for all airframe & powerplant (A&P) mechanics, avionics technicians, inspectors and selected administrative personnel.

“Safety conscious employees build and maintain safer aircraft, enabling Cessna to continue an aviation safety record renowned in the industry,” said Stan Younger, vice president of Service Facilities for Cessna. “Human factors training is one more way that Cessna proactively seeks to meet and exceed government regulations and embraces the highest levels of conduct, documentation and credentialing for all of our maintenance activities.”
Topics covered in the human factors training include:

- mistake proofing
- personal accountability
- fatigue
- stress
- complacency
- communication
- awareness
- distraction
- lack of knowledge
- teamwork
- resources
- pressure
- lack of assertiveness
- norms of behavior

Cessna created the human factors training program in 2006 and is one of the first aviation companies to develop its own in-house training curriculum for maintenance activities. While the training is not yet required by the Federal Aviation Administration, it has been reviewed and approved by the agency. The European Aviation Safety Agency already has Part 145 human factors training requirements, and the Citation Service Centers achieved 100 percent compliance with those requirements in 2007.