Even though most maintainers will never receive recognition for a job well done, there is still pride when that aircraft takes off. Flight crews and passengers rarely even consider the men and women that maintain the aircraft, unless there is a problem. According to the FAA, "80 percent of maintenance errors involve human factors." [FAA13] Every year, there are aviation accidents all over the world. As of 2009, a "maintenance event" is the beginning cause of 26% of aviation incidents [Ada09]. Airlines are continually facing pressures to reduce costs, but still keep their fleet in the air. Safety is not always considered a priority in aviation, and the maintainers are the ones having to do more with less. This process has been in practice since the beginning of aviation, and one good example would be the 1988 "Aloha incident." Multiple fuselage cracks were missed during inspections, which led to lost pressurization when the upper skin of the aircraft peeled back. There was only one fatality on this example, but it could have been worse [Nat88]. If maintainers, inspectors, and quality assurance were to heed policies and observe the Aviation Maintenance Technicians Model Code of Conduct, it is possible that the number of maintenance related accidents could be greatly reduced [Sec10].
Making ethical decisions is imperative when it comes to aviation maintenance, as there are millions of lives that can be affected by one bad decision. Whether it is a lack of judgment, failure to comply with the Code of Conduct, or just a general lack of ethics, certain aviation incidents could have been avoided. Another example of an accident that could have been avoided is Continental Express Flight 2574. September 11, 1991, Flight 2574 took the lives of 14 people when it crashed in Eagle Lake, TX due to "the consequent string of failures by Continental Express maintenance and inspection personnel to follow approved procedures for the replacement of the horizontal stabilizer deice boots.