Maintenance Resource Management - MRM in Military Aviation

MRM in Military Aviation

In 2002, the U.S. Coast Guard identified that maintenance error is involved in one of five Coast Guard aviation mishaps at an annual cost of $1 million. In an effort to reduce those maintenance error induced mishaps, the Coast Guard created a Human Factors in Maintenance (HFIM) program. Drawing on data from the Federal Aviation Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and commercial airline sources, the Coast Guard finally implemented a U.S. Navy-developed variant of MRM.

Following a study of aviation mishaps over the 10-year period 1992-2002, the U.S. Air Force determined that close to 18% of its aircraft mishaps were directly attributable to maintenance human error. Unlike the more immediate impact of air crew error, maintenance human errors often occur long before the flight where the problems are discovered. These "latent errors" included such mistakes as failure to follow published aircraft manuals, lack of assertive communication among maintenance technicians, poor supervision, and improper assembly practices.

In summer 2005, the Air National Guard Aviation Safety Division made the MRM program available to the Air National Guard's 88 flying wings, spread across 54 U.S. states and territories. In 2006, the Defense Safety Oversight Council (DSOC) of the U.S. Department of Defense recognized the mishap prevention value of this maintenance safety program by partially funding a variant of ANG MRM for training throughout the U.S. Air Force. This ANG initiated, DoD-funded version of MRM became known as Air Force Maintenance Resource Management, AF-MRM, and is now widely used in the U.S. Air Force.