Date of Award
3-1-1988
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
A study was conducted to validate a previously developed training program designed to teach decision-making skills to U.S. Air Force Pilots. Of particular interest was whether or not pilot decision-making skills could be advanced through a training program specifically designed to teach judgmental skills as supplied to the flight environment. Two groups of students were randomly selected from amongst volunteers solicited from students currently enrolled in flight training of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. A pre-test designed to measure decision-making abilities was administered to the students in both groups following the pre-test the Aeronautical Decision-Making Training Program for U.S Air Force Pilots was administered to one group of sixteen students. The second group, made up of thirteen students. The second group, made up of thirteen students, was given instruction on interment flight skills which was essentially an extension of previous instruction. Instruction for both groups was administered both in the classroom and in a flight simulator. Following instruction both groups of students were given a post-test which was identical to the pre-test administered earlier. Independent t-tests were conducted at the .05 significance level to determine whether there was a significant difference between mean pre-test scores for the two groups, and between mean post-test scores for the two groups. Dependent t-test were conducted at the .05 significance level to determine whether this men difference between pre and post-test scores was significant for either group. The results of the investigation indicated that the decision-making ability of the control group did not significantly change as a result of training and that the decision-making ability of the experimental group improved significantly after administration of the Aeronautical Decision-Making Training Program for U.S Air Force Pilots. It was recommended that the U.S Air Force adopt the training program and conduct further study to verify applicability to Air Force student pilots. Additional recommendations included a review of Embry-Riddle’s current commercial pilot training program to determine how best to incorporate decision-making skills training and the development of Federal Aviation Administration rule change proposal calling for the inclusion of decision-making skills training in FAA approved flight training curriculum.