A pragmatic mapping of factors behind deviating acts in aircraft maintenance.

In this paper, we analyze twelve cases of deviations from prescribed procedures during scheduled/unscheduled maintenance checks, carried out by an aircraft maintenance organization in Greece. The detailed analysis of these cases let us identify specific factors that guided maintenance technicians towards alternative courses of action. Our focus is not on the material etiology of deviations but on the underlying factors that determined the actual decision action path by the air maintenance technicians. A generalization of factors is then being made, out of the specific factors identified for each case.