Ethics in Aviation

    Ethics is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.” (n.d.) This discipline is crucial in the field of Aviation. Everyday thousands of people’s lives are put in the hands of professionals working in the aviation industry. Pilot’s fly tens of thousands of feet above the earth with hundreds of passengers everyday with little to no incident, and that’s no coincidence. Having ethics in the workplace is important, but especially so in aviation related professions. Not every job has hundreds if not thousands of lives dependent on successful performance of multiple different working parts. From the maintenance engineers, to Pilot’s who operate the aircraft, and even the air traffic controllers who ensure the safe and expeditious handling of aircraft, everyone involved must be ethical and professional for the system to function properly.

    Though some people tend to think of worst-case scenarios, ethical issues are not always life or death in aviation. (Zuehlke, 2005) Just like other professions, ethical behavior is crucial for a workplace to function properly and efficiently. Without professionalism and a decent moral compass, it’s easy for ethics and the viewpoint and direction of a workplace to become skewed and quality of work and customer satisfaction will suffer. When self-interests and other personal factors enter the workplace and disrupt the best interests of everyone in the system, a strong ethical environment no longer exists. Without a positive ethical influence on a business or workplace, its’s easy for a workplace to fall apart from the inside and cause serious issues.

References:

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ethic. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved August 16, 2020,                  from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

Zuehlke, B. (2005, August). Ethics: Why it's important. Retrieved August 16, 2020, from https://www.aviationpros.com/home/article/10385713/ethics-why-its-important