William L. (Bill) Rankin is a Boeing Technical Fellow and Lead of the Maintenance Human Factors Group in Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. Bill received his Ph.D. in human performance and cognitive psychology in 1976 from Washington State University. From 1976 to 1986 he worked for the Battelle Seattle Research Centers carrying out human factors engineering work in the nuclear industry. Since joining Boeing in 1986, Bill developed the yearly Boeing Employee Opinion Survey, a performance management process for hourly workers, and an assessment for promotion into first-level management. He also served as Chief, Human Factors Engineering, for a year in the Engineering Division.

Bill moved to Boeing Commercial Aviation Services (formerly Customer Support) in 1995. His responsibilities include the development of maintenance Human Factors processes and training relevant to Boeing customer airlines. This includes support for helping customer airlines implement the Maintenance Error Decision Aid (MEDA) process, the Ramp Error Decision Aid (REDA) process, and a Safety Management System. He has also developed a two-day Maintenance Human Factors training seminar that meets the requirements of EASA 145. In 2000, Bill and the Boeing MEDA Team received the International Federation of Airworthiness’ Whittle Safety Award for the MEDA process.

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