PILOT AGING AND AVIATION SAFETY

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DESCRIPTION: The broad, long-term objectives of this application are to better understand the effects of aging on pilot performance and to improve aviation safety. The specific aims are (1) to examine the relationship between aging and the risk of pilot involvement in aviation crashes; (2) to examine the relationship between aging and the risk of pilot involvement in aviation violations; (3) to examine the relationships between psychosocial scales as measured by the Job Content Instrument, and health status and safety performance, including involvement in aviation crashes and violations; (4) to examine the role of medical conditions in aviation crashes and violations in the process of aging and assess the effectiveness of the current medical standards for Class I pilots in detecting medical and psychophysiological factors influencing pilot performance; and (5) to disseminate the results in scientific and public communities and make relevant policy recommendations. Using a cohort design, this project will follow up for 12 years a random sample of U.S. commuter air carrier and air taxi pilots with Class I medical certificates whose ages were 45-49 years (n=1,500) or 50-54 years (n=1,500) in 1987. Longitudinal data on demographics, medical conditions, flight experience, exposure to flight, safety practices, psychosocial and behavioral factors, and aviation crash and violation records will be collected through repeated interview surveys, medical certificate records, and the airman and crash surveillance systems of the FAA and NTSB. The primary hypotheses are that pilot age and job strain are independently associated with significantly increased risks of involvement in aviation crashes and violations and development of disqualifying medical conditions, and that the relationships between pilot age, job strain and safety performance can be modified by flight experience.