Fit to fly : an investigation of aeronautical decision making for pilots

Abstract

This dissertation adopted a quantitative approach with a positivistic research paradigm. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of pilots towards aeronautical decisionmaking (ADM) from three different dimensions: between commercial and recreational pilots, three different age brackets (under 25, between 25-50, and more than 50 years) and three different amounts of flying hours (under 1000, between 1000-5000, and more than 5000 flying hours). A total of 117 pilots participated in this study, through the completion of the constructed questionnaire. Results from the independent-samples t-test demonstrated a significant difference in the impact of “Macho” hazardous attitude, “Personal issues”, “Time of day” and “Aircraft acceptance before flight” on ADM between commercial and recreational pilots. One-way ANOVA was utilised to analyse data gathered from the questionnaire between pilots having different age groups and pilots having different amounts of flying hours. Results from the questionnaire exhibit a significant difference in the effect of “Psychological services may be beneficial to pilots and should be made available by aviation companies”, “Time of day” and “Aircraft acceptance before flight” on ADM between different age groups. Furthermore, results illustrate a significant difference in the effect of “Macho” hazardous attitude and “Commercial pressures” on ADM between pilots having different amounts of flying hours.