| In comparison with other natural or fabricated disasters, unacceptable accidents in commercial airlines gain attention at the national and global level, despite the fact that natural or fabricated catastrophes may lead to greater casualties and higher financial burden. Current aviation industry standards for the assignment of personnel to aviation-safety departments vary from company to company. A person is placed into a safety position by a director of safety or human resources or by a manager of authority. The problem is the lack of governmental and industry requirements and qualifications for aviation-safety professionals to control risk and prevent accidents. Aviation-safety professionals have no mandated regulatory requirements based on education level, professional licensing and certification, and competencies. The purpose of this study was to examine the comparative relationship of core competencies, education, and professional licensing and certification of aviation-safety professionals in commercial and transportation aviation industries. The non-experimental mixed methods comparative study focused on the criterion variable of core competencies and the predictors of education, professional certification, professional licensing, and the skills and abilities necessary to function as an aviation-safety professional. The target audience for this study was a sample size of 524 aviation-safety professionals in U.S.-based aviation companies. These aviation-safety professionals acted as the competency generators to examine the necessary core safety professional competencies required to manage commercial and transportation aviation-safety programs. With three statistical tests for reliability, the conclusions and results revealed a high degree of reliability in support of the core safety competencies of education, professional licensing, and certification of aviation safety professionals in commercial and transportation aviation industries. The results suggest future research by other researchers or professionals in the areas of aviation safety or for possible dissertation topics by new doctoral students for study with different survey populations such as government, industry, and/or academia. Future research can also focus on differences in competencies according to the level of responsibility (entry, middle, or senior level). |
