Air Carrier Safety and Culture: An Investigation of Taiwan's Adaptation to Western Incident Reporting Programs

This paper describes a descriptive study that was conducted of the acceptance and usage of the government's confidential incident reporting program by airline flight crew members in Taiwan. Survey results from 205 Taiwanese airline pilots revealed numerous problems with the incident reporting program that were directly attributable to the structure of Taiwan's airlines and safety system within the Chinese culture. It was concluded that adaptation to the principles of the United States Aviation Safety Action Program is desirable to the Taiwanese air carrier pilots, but that the current airline structure within Chinese culture is an impediment to any voluntary incident reporting system.