Discussion: Problem-Solving Process Peers Review 2
Provide a classmate review on their discussion topic :
Reflect on your own personal experiences and discuss the following:
Present a practical example of a time when you applied a process for problem solving. How did that process differ from the Problem-Solving Process described in the primer?
Describe the challenges of applying a process for problem-solving in a practice aviation or aerospace organization.
Finally, reflect on the task you completed for this week. How difficult was it to identify the problem, purpose, and research question from your article? What lessons learned do you have from the task that could improve the efficiency of reviewing research articles?
Classmate post that you need to post comment/ review on:
Working as an airport operations officer, I am responsible for ensuring that the airport complies with FAA and TSA regulations and remains a safe and operational for aircraft. Recently we had an issue where no airfield lighting was available at dusk when the air traffic control tower attempted to turn on the lights. Due to having no runway lights, I was forced to close the airport. This sent all inbound aircraft into airborne holding and caused two diversions.
Immediately they attempted to cycle through the lights, switching them on and off to no avail. At this point I had contacted our airport electrician to troubleshoot over the phone and begin the process of having him respond in to investigate. We also had airfield construction that occurred early in the day, so I called the construction manager to determine if there was the possibility that the contractor struck any buried utilities. I was advised by the construction manager that the contractor had locked out the lighting circuit, and neglected to reenergize it at the end of the work day. Our airport electrician contacted the contractor and determined that it was safe to reenergize the circuit. After this was completed all airfield lighting was operational without issue. The airport was immediately reopened after the lights were observed operational.
I feel that I followed the general guidelines of the problem solving process. I have outlined the steps below:
1. Identify the Problem: There are no runway or taxiway lights illuminated on the airfield
2. State Project Goals: Have airfield lighting restored
3. Review Literature: I reviewed the shift report from the morning operations officer that highlighted daytime airfield construction. This then led me to contact our construction manager
4. Execute Plan: We determined why the lights were out and were able to reenergize the circuit
5. Evaluate Results: Airfield lighting was operational
6. Draw Conclusions and Make Recommendations: We were able to determine that the airfield lighting did not work solely because the circuit was deenergized. Some recommendations to avoid this problem in the future is to ensure proper shift pass-on between airport operations, set reminders every time circuits are deenergized, and test airfield lighting after every construction shift regardless of if circuit was deenergized or not.
When I am able to break down problems using the problem solving process I feel that it creates a clearer path to how to solve the problem. I like having everything laid out neatly, as it makes each step easier to understand and complete