ABSTRACT
Exploring in-depth the multiple facets of the SMS in aviation, including the genesis of such a safety dispositive and its adoption in aviation, calls for addressing it from multiple angles, thus using complementary methods. Indeed, it involves not only an analysis of what the SMS is currently in aviation but also a historical approach to trace its origins and understand its emergence and dissemination. Studying the SMS in aviation today is a vast topic. Aviation involves a range of organizations such as airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, regulators, and air traffic management organizations. Essentially, it is also an international activity, thereby embedded in national or regional economic, geographical, political, and social contexts. This complexity and variety create significant challenges for analysis. Besides, the SMS is not an isolated “object” that is easy to delineate. It also translates into practices that require extensive field work to be analyzed. Therefore, choices were made to scope out the study of the SMS in aviation today. As for the historical investigation, considering the relatively recent appearance of the SMS and the accessibility of actors and observers of its emergence and development, we adopted a socio-historical perspective. This chapter reports the methods that were relied on to study the SMS, as well as the reasons underlying these choices. The multiple angles and sources of data lead us to adopt a composite methodology.
