Vidic 2:00
R07
Ethical Dilemmas in Aerospace Engineering: Is Every Lie Wrong?
Alyssa Kostka (ark105@pitt.edu)
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR
It started off just like any other day; I woke up early and
headed off to work. As most days, I was very excited to be
going to the lab of my dream job as a Chemical Engineer in
product design. When I arrived at work, I was greeted by my
fellow workers and headed back to room 217 where our daily
meetings take place. Today, we were collaborating with an
Aerospace Engineering company about a new jet fuel nozzle
that can withstand the new fuel made from biodiesel. I was
very excited for this meeting because I had a minor in
Aerospace engineering and had immense knowledge about
fuel nozzles from my internship at a Lockheed Martin a few
summers ago. They started discussing how we would make
this new fuel nozzle and one of my coworkers suggested that
we 3D print it. What a brilliant idea I thought; 3D printing is
on the rise and is very cost-effective. So, that was it then; we
would come up with the new design and materials needed and
it would be 3D printed.
A Moral Dilemma Arises
This meeting was about a month ago. Our progress on the
project is going very well and we should be finishing up in
less than a week. Everyone in my group is giving 100% and I
couldn’t be happier with how things are going. Today at work,
my boss confronted me about a dilemma with the
manufacturing of the fuel nozzle. He told me that we were
running low on funds so we need to use less of the material
than what we originally planned. The amount of material that
he told us to use would get the job done, but it would not be
as strong or as safe as the original. He told me to just start
using less, but mark down that we are still using the original
amount so our product will still pass inspection.
I was very taken back by what he asked me to do. I either
had to lie about the amount of material we were using, or risk
our product not passing inspection and in turn giving our
company a bad name. My boss thinks highly of me and trusts
that I will listen to him and do what I am told, but I don’t have
a good feeling about this. I was always told that lying was
wrong, but if your authority figure tells you to do it and it will
better the company, is it still wrong?
cheap and low environmentally impactful materials make the
products “greener”, and therefore more appealing to
customers [1].
How does it Work?
3D printers work like 2D printers, but instead of using ink
and paper, the 3D printers use a desired material and pour it
in layers to create an object. An elevator moves the platform
higher and lower to help lay the layers, while the vat
containing the material used in the layers is releasing the
required amount of material needed for each layer. A laser
source positioned at the top of the printer is used to help
solidify the object as you can see in Figure 1 [2]. 3D printers
are able to fine-tune and make every part precisely and exactly
what it needs to be to a degree never before possible [3]. They
fight the obsolescence of products. 3D printers extend the life
of products by repairing them after parts are damaged or worn
[1]. This saves companies money because the printers can
save old or damaged products instead of having to buy or
make new ones. Using 3D printing to repair turbines instead
of replacing them has shown a 90% reduction in repair time.
When parts are being repaired, they can also be upgraded to
the latest design, making 3D printing very desirable [4].
FIGURE 1 [3]
Diagram of a 3D printer.
FROM DESIGN TO PRODUCT
3D printers are becoming a very important part of the
manufacturing industry. They make printing very intricate
and hard-to-make parts easier. They are also more
environmentally friendly because the printers use
biodegradable plastics like polylactic acid (PLA). Using
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
2014-09-30
Use of 3D Printers in Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace Engineering deals with the research design and
manufacturing technology of aircrafts and space crafts. One
particular area of this engineering is designing new parts for
aircrafts. Since many parts are small and precise, it is difficult
to manufacture them by hand or with a controlled machine.
Alyssa Kostka
3D printing makes producing these very intense parts easy.
Many companies, including General Electric, are already
using 3D printers to make some of the parts needed for an air
craft. One part, in particular, is the jet fuel nozzles. If a
company uses a 3D printer to make the fuel nozzles, they are
reducing the amount of material needed and are also
producing a part that will make the air crafts more fuel
efficient and environmentally friendly [3].
duty to make the safest and most sound product for the people
[6]. We experience, day in and day out, how concerns about
safety continue to grow everywhere due to the fact that we are
developing a more sensitive awareness of the huge power we
are both using and deploying through the use of new
technologies. This awareness should be neither deprecated
nor underestimated by anybody. Following safety standards
is not only good for our company, but it is good for the people.
If we produce a product that does not satisfy the people, but
is up to the government’s standards, we will not sell. We must
live up to the standards of the people as well as the
government in order to be successful [8].
As engineers, we must abide by the rules and codes set
forth by our institutions. Many people believe that engineers
don’t act as ethically as workers in the fields of medicine or
law. We are taught differently than this. We started out in our
first year of college learning about the ethics of engineering
and how complicated each decision we make can be. Every
choice we make affects several different things, and we must
discuss these things before making our decisions [9].
AN ETHICAL DECISION
The decision by my co-worker to use 3D printing in the
process of making the new fuel nozzles was an excellent idea,
as you can now see. 3D technology is very helpful and useful
in that it can make almost any design that you upload to the
printer. The design that we originally came up with was the
strongest, cheapest, and therefore the most cost-effective
design we could think of. When my boss said that we had to
change the design to save money, we had to cut back
somewhere. When you use less material, you take away from
the strength of the product. This means that the product that
we plan on selling will not be as perfect as we want it to be,
so we are letting our customers down. Ethically, it is wrong
to mislead the public. As Engineers, we must avoid deceptive
acts. Even if an authority figure says that we should not be
truthful in order to better the company, it is still against what
the code of ethics stands for [5]. We must present the results
we are given in a respectful and truthful manner. Any other
presentation of information is unethical [6].
A Moral Standpoint
Ever since I was a kid I was told that lying was wrong and
I should be truthful in everything that I say. I understand that
not telling the truth to your parents or teachers or any other
authority figure is immoral, but is every lie equal? If you tell
your friend that her new haircut is gorgeous even though you
think that it is hideous, you would be lying, but I think that it
would be the nicer thing to do. If a lie does more good than
harm, it is not a bad thing. My parents tell me to think before
I speak, and even though this seems like an obvious thing to
do, many people skip out on it. If you think that telling a lie
will help the greater good, then I don’t see it as being such a
bad thing to do [10].
Sometimes telling a lie benefits more people than it harms.
In a situation where you would lie to help out another person,
I think that it would be ok to lie, but only to a certain extent.
If you find yourself in a group project where everyone
contributes, but one person, you are already in a bad situation.
At the end of the project your teacher wants you to evaluate
everyone’s participation in the group. You want to give the
one group member a bad review, but you know that it’s the
end of the semester and this bad grade would really hurt them.
Ethically you must tell the truth and be fair. Giving them a
review that the do not deserve is not right and therefore should
not be done [11].
There was a movie made in 2009 called “The Invention of
Lying”. This movie takes place in a world where everybody
tells the truth and there is no such thing as lying. The main
character, Mark Bellison, is having a hard time trying to pay
his rent and when he goes to the bank to withdraw money he
lies about how much he needed to withdraw. This was the
very first lie ever told. As the movie progresses, he tells more
lies and his life starts to turn around. The more lies he tells,
the better his life becomes. In the end, he has to choose
Following the Code
I have been contemplating what I should do ever since this
morning. Not only would it be wrong to make a product that
doesn’t serve its purpose as well as before, but I would have
to lie and say that it did. The American Institute of Chemical
Engineers has a code of ethics that must be upheld and
followed by all Chemical Engineers. Part of the code states
that members must be honest, impartial and serve with fidelity
to their employers, clients, and the public. This means that it
is ethically wrong for me to mark down that the product is just
as good as the original when I know for fact that it is not [6].
As engineers, it is our job to listen to what our hierarchy
tells us and not to do more than what we are capable or
licensed to do. I went online to try and see if I could find
anything that would help me decide what to do. I found a case
where a woman was told to do one thing, but noticed another
problem that was not in her check list. She was advised to
write up a separate report and notify her director that there
was another problem. It was not her job to write up a second
report, but she did it because it was ethically right of her to
protect the safety and well-being of the public [7]. If I don’t
mark down and let people know that we used less material in
our product, I would be putting people in danger by giving
them a product that is not up to par. As an engineer it is my
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Alyssa Kostka
between lying to get the girl, or telling the truth and letting
her choose for herself. Mark does not lie and it pays off, for
the girl does pick to be with him. This movie shows both the
good and bad consequences of lying. Overall, the bad
outweighs the good, but it does demonstrate that there is a
good side.
engineer who abides by the code of ethics, I must tell my boss
that I don’t think this is the right thing to do. We could find a
way to minimize cost in the marketing field of our product
instead of the manufacturing process. There are numerous
things that could go wrong if I go through and tell this lie. I
would be letting down my parents, my coworkers, and also
the general public. In the end, lying is a sin and should be
avoided in almost all circumstances, especially in the workforce.
Different Theories
As I have stated before, I believe that if telling a lie leads
to a better outcome than telling the truth, I think it is ok to lie.
This is more of a consequentialist theory. They tend to ask
themselves “Would telling the truth or telling a lie bring about
the better consequences?” They assess the rightness or
wrongness of doing something by looking at the
consequences caused by that act, hence the name,
consequentialists. This seems like the logical thing to do, but
it takes time trying to think of the good and bad consequences
of the lie they are about to tell and balance the good against
the bad. This is hard because consequences are hard to predict
and often differ from person to person. If I tell a certain lie to
one person, they will be affected differently than if I tell it to
someone else. Also, it is hard to decide what is good and what
is bad. Something that I think isn’t so bad of an outcome could
be very wrong in someone else’s opinion [12].
There are two types of utilitarian (consequentialist)
thinkers, rule-utilitarian and act-utilitarian. A rule-utilitarian
doesn’t apply their theory on a case by case basis, but use
theory to come up with some general principles. They usually
say that lying is bad because it causes harm to people and
reduces society’s general respect for the truth. Although they
do believe that here are some cases where small white lies are
ok. An act-utilitarian considers every single action separately.
They might say that telling a lie in a particular case leads to
the best results for everyone involved and for society as a
whole, so it is not morally wrong [12].
Another theory to moral thinking is deontology.
Deontologists base their moral thinking on general universal
laws and not on individual acts. Therefore, according to them,
an act is either right or wrong, regardless of whether is
produces a good or bad consequence. In other words, if I lie
to a gunman about where the innocent people are, I would
have done wrong because I broke the law saying that lying is
wrong [12]. Lying is morally wrong in many situations. If the
lie that you are telling only benefits you in the end, the lie
should not be told. Every lie we tell effects many people and
it would be wrong for it to only benefit you in the end [13].
REFERENCES
[1] K. Kovac. (December 2013). “How Green is 3D
Printing?”
ECOS.
(online
article).
http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A
N&K=93614197&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH
r7ESeqLY40dvuOLCmr0yep69Ssqy4SbSWxWXS&Conten
tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A
[2] K. Maxey. (September 2013). “A Brief History of 3D
Printing.” Infographic: The History of 3D Printing. (website).
http://www.engineering.com/3DPrinting/3DPrintingArticles/
ArticleID/6262/Infographic-The-History-of-3DPrinting.aspx
[3] A. Buchholz. (May 2014). “3-D Printing Keeps
Growing.”
The
Futurist.
(online
article).
http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A
N&K=95532188&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH
r7ESeqLY40dvuOLCmr0yep69Ssae4S7CWxWXS&Conten
tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A
[4] T. Overton. (April 2014). “3D-Printed Turbine
Replacement Parts Could Cut Repair Times by 90%.” Foucus
on
O&M.
(online
article).
http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A
N&K=95469636&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH
r7ESeqLY40dvuOLCmr0yep7VSsqu4SrGWxWXS&Conten
tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A
[5] “NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers.” NSPE. (Online
Article).http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.htm
l
[6] “Code of
Ethics” AICHE. (online article).
http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics
[7] “Ethics Cases (Case 1010)” Texas Tech University
(website).
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/murdoughcenter/products/cases.ph
p
[8] J. Basart, M. Serra. (2013). “Engineering Ethics
Beyond Engineers’ Ethics” Sci Eng Ethics. (online article).
http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A
N&K=85860022&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH
r7ESeqLQ4zdnyOLCmr0yep7ZSs6y4SrKWxWXS&Conten
tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A
[9] (January 2014). “Matters of Conscience” Professional
Engineering.
(online
article).
http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A
N&K=94137659&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH
MY ETHICAL DECISION
Out of all of these different theories, I seem to base my
thinking on the rule-utilitarianism. I have begun to list both
the good and bad consequences of my situation. The bad
consequences are seeming to outweigh the good, meaning that
lying and saying that our product is just as good as it was
before the change in the amount of material is wrong. As an
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Alyssa Kostka
r7ESeqLQ4zdnyOLCmr0yep7dSrqu4S7OWxWXS&Conten
tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A
[10] L. Kostka, J. Kostka. (2014, October 24). Interview
[11] C. Wilson. (March 2013). “Picking Up the Slack”
The Big Q. (website). http://www.scu.edu/r/ethicscenter/ethicsblog/thebigq/15667/Picking-Up-theSlack?utm_source=scu&utm_medium=email&utm_cam
paign=1306&
[12] “Lying and truth-telling” Ethics Guide. (online
article). http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/lying/lying_1.shtml
[13] “Pinocchio’s Nose” Webguru. (website).
http://www.webguru.neu.edu/professionalism/casestudies/pinocchios-nose
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
R. Gervais, M. Robinson. (2009). “The Invention of
Lying”. (movie).
The New Jerusalem Bible. Ed. Susan Jones. New York:
Doubleday, 1985. Print.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my writing instructor Ms. Ferda for
helping me answer some questions about this paper. I would
also like to thank my engineering analysis professor Dr.
Vidic, my roommate Amanda Bartko, and my Resident
Assistant Justice Achonu for giving me support and
discussing issues about my paper with.
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