Analysis of contributions of safety management system applications to air traffic control services

ANALYSIS OF CONTRIBUTIONS OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM APPLICATIONS TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SERVICES İbrahim TUNÇ Air Traffic Control Ph.D. Program Anadolu University, Graduate School of Sciences, June 2018. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Aydan CAVCAR Qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used in this research, which proposes an SMS model that predicts the positive safety culture with pro-activity by determining the impact and contribution of positive safety cultures to the SMS practices and processes in the basic purpose of civil aviation ATM / ATC units. The research population is composed of 484 people and are working as Air Traffic Controller at Ataturk Airport, Esenboğa Airport, Turkey Air Traffic Control Center / Ankara General Directorate of State Airports Authority. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed in SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 18 programs and the findings were evaluated in the light of the information gathered in the literature. At the end of the research, it was determined that the perceptual and behavioral dimension of the positive safety culture was statistically significant and has positive effect on the overall system with the organizational, procedural and behavioral dimensions of the SMS management processes. The "accusatory culture", which constitutes the negative sub-dimension of safety culture, has been found to have a weak but negative effect on the SMS practices in ATM / ATC systems in all three dimensions. To sum up, according to the findings gathered within the scope of the research, the proposal of a new SMS model with a positive safety culture and pro-activity in the nature, which can be applied especially in civil aviation ATN / ATC units and generally in all operational units of the civil aviation industry, has been developed. Key Words: Air traffic management (ATM), Air traffic control (ATC), Safety management system (SMS), Positive safety culture