The Relationships of Age and ATC Experience to Job Performance Ratings of Terminal Area Traffic Controllers
Abstract
The study involved the collection of experimental ratings of job performance and other data for several hundred journeymen radar control specialists of 17 high-IFR-traffic-density Terminal Area Traffic Control facilities. Significant inverse relationships were found between the job ratings and both chronological age and tenure in FAA ATC work. Results of a comparative analysis of data for dichotomized groups aged '40 and younger' and '41 and older within each of several length-of-experience groupings indicated that the younger subjects of every experience level tended to receive higher evaluations than those over 40 years old, and the greater mean differences in performance ratings pertained to the dichotomized age groups having over ten years experience. However, a regression analysis indicated that, when the than those over 40 years old, and the greater mean differences in performance ratings pertained to the dichotomized age groups having over ten years experience. However, a regression analysis indicated that, when the variance of age was theoretically nullified, or held constant, experience correlated only negligibly with performance. A similar analysis indicated that if the subjects had possessed identical amounts of experience, their ratings would still have correlated negatively, and significantly so, with their ages. Other results also suggested that ATCS proficiency is more apt to decline as a result of factors associated with aging than as a consequence of presumed effects stemming from lengthy ATC experience.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0773449
Entities
People
- Bart B. Cobb
- John J. Mathews
- Peter L. Nelson
Organizations
- Federal Aviation Administration