Determinants of Flight Training Performance an Analysis of the Impact of Undergraduate Academic Background

Abstract

This thesis uses pre-commissioning academic and demographic factors, along with flight school performance data to measure pilot success in flight school. The goal is to determine if undergraduate major or school attended affect flight school performance. Measure of effectiveness include: (I) Flight School Completion Status, (2) Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination Composite Scores, and (3) Primary Flight Training Composite Scores. Recruitment for naval aviators is focused on individuals with "technical majors," according to present policy of the Naval Recruiting Command. This recruiting philosophy is based on the "Rickover Hypothesis," which postulates that naval officers with technical degrees are superior to naval officers with non-technical degrees. The Logit model showed that aviators with engineering degrees have a statistically greater chance of completing flight school than aviators with non-engineering technical or non-technical degrees. In addition, the results showed an association between academic background and flight school performance. This research justifies the current Navy policy of concentrating aviator recruitment efforts on individuals with technical degrees.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA381146

Entities

People

  • Paul M. Reis

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Attrition
  • Composite Materials
  • Data Analysis
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Flight Training
  • Naval Aviation
  • Personnel Management
  • Pilots
  • Psychology
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States
  • United States Naval Academy
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Naval Personnel Management