Difficulties in Accessing a Representative Pilot Force: The Demographic Challenge and Views of Minority Pilot Focus Groups
Abstract
The United States Air Force has expressed concern about under representation of minority officers in its pilot force. Historically, there have been relatively smaller percentages of African- American and Hispanic officers among Air Force pilots than might be expected from other demographic and educational data. As part of a more general study of demographic trends and their effects on the Air Force personnel system, researchers were tasked to gather information pertaining to minority community attitudes about the military and flying careers. The researchers gathered this information from focus group interview sessions among African-American and Hispanic pilots and pilot trainees and from Air Force Academy and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) minority recruiters. The responses highlight reasons for the lack of interest in flying careers among the most competitive minority students. They also offer suggestions for enhancing the selection/recruitment and training processes to attract a greater percentage of the highly qualified minority students and allow them to compete successfully for pilot positions. This paper presents a brief summary of that report (Barucky, 1998).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADP010364
Entities
People
- Brice M. Stone
- Jerry M. Barucky