Case report of an obsessive-compulsive personality: a precurser to accident proneness

The social/physiological/psychological review of an aircraft accident involving input of incorrect controls and low-altitude ejection of a student naval aviator enlightened the investigators as to maybe a not-so-uncommon problem--accident proneness resulting from an obsessive-compulsive nonpsychotic personality. Review of the pilot's history reflected a perfectionist attitude since childhood with continuous associated near-serious accidents. Flight training revealed occurrences of over-correction, channelized attention, and denial of errors. With the demands of Naval Aviation that spurs the growth of the perfectionist, normal/abnormal parameters of obsession-compulsion as they present themselves must be cautiously examined.