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

Abstract

This quantitative study adopts a positivistic research paradigm in order to investigate the perspective of pilots towards aeronautical decision-making (ADM) across three different dimensions: 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 a constructed questionnaire, consisting of 35 items. 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. 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.