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Assessment of personality and crew interaction skills in successful naval aviators
Jennifer S Berg1, Jeffrey L Moore, Paul D Retzlaff
1Clinical Investigation Department, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA 92134-1005, USA. sbhazelden@nmcsd.med.navy.mil
Purpose:
We were interested in studying a full range of successful aviators to discern which personality factors were present and whether these factors correlate with age, rank, and accumulated flight time.
Method:
The Armstrong Laboratory Aviator Personality Survey (ALAPS) was administered to 312 designated naval aviators and flight officers from a variety of aircraft communities. The sample included O-3/O-4 elite aviators who were selected for their squadron billets based on superior performance, O-5/O-6 aviators selected for command positions, and 59 flag officers.
Results:
The junior aviators scored higher on the factor associated with Dogmatism and lower on the factor associated with Team Orientation and Socialness. This pattern was reversed for the flag officers, while O-5/O-6 aviators received intermediate scores on each of these factors.
Conclusions:
The present study demonstrates a correlation between specific ALAPS factors and experience, rank, age, and flight time. The combination of high Dogmatism, low Team Orientation, and low Socialness in junior aviators could suggest lower openness to crew input and increased risk for mishaps.