Age-Related Longitudinal Changes in Aviator Performance

《联邦航空条例》(FARS，121.383c)第121部分包含一项规定，要求航空公司飞行员在60岁时强制退休。“60岁规则”建立于1959年，其宗旨是“……减少因飞行员年龄增长而导致的飞机事故”。这一决定背后的逻辑是……生理和心理功能的逐渐恶化通常伴随着年龄的增长“(摘自Kay等人的历史回顾，1993年，1-1)。尽管有这样的理论基础，但几乎没有收集到的数据来检查这个年龄段的飞行员的实际表现，从而客观地评估这一规则。几年来，我们的实验室通过飞行模拟器测量和计算机认知测试，研究了年龄和药物对飞行员表现的影响。此外，我们在进行纵向研究方面拥有丰富的经验。在此背景下，我们提出了一项纵向研究，以客观地评估50-70岁飞行员飞行成绩随年龄的变化。此外，在我们与正常老年人的广泛工作中，我们对包括飞行员在内的老年人口表现的广泛差异印象深刻。我们认为，一些认知能力指标可能比单独的年龄更好地预测航空表现。因此，在我们提议的工作中，我们将包括精心挑选的认知指标，以解释老年飞行员的航空表现差异。在拟议的工作中，我们将解决以下关键问题：1)年龄对50至70岁飞行员飞行表现的总体影响。采用加速纵向研究设计，我们计划确定在50至70岁的飞行员中是否存在与年龄相关的显著性能变化。我们将在三年内跟踪100名飞行员，并使用回归分析来评估按时间顺序排列的年龄对表现的影响。(2)处理速度对航空性能的总体影响。在过去，我们和其他人发现，在横截面的基础上，在处理速度和工作记忆的衡量标准上的表现与航空相关任务的表现相关。我们计划测试这一假设，即纵向模拟器的性能可以通过认知处理速度的测量来预测。

Part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs, 121.383c) contains a provision for mandatory retirement of airline pilots at age 60. The "Age-60 Rule" was established in 1959 with "... the objective of reducing aircraft accidents attributable to the effects of pilot aging." The logic behind this decision was that ... progressive deterioration of physiological and psychological functions regularly accompanied increasing age" (From historical review by Kay et al., 1993, 1-1). Despite this rationale, there has been little data collected to examine actual performance of aviators in this age group to objectively evaluate this rule. For several years our laboratory has studied the effects of age and drugs on aircraft pilot performance using flight simulator measures and computerized cognitive testing. Moreover, we have extensive experience in conducting longitudinal studies. In this context, we propose a longitudinal study to evaluate objectively age-related changes in flight performance of aviators 50 to 70 years of age. Furthermore, in our extensive work with normal older adults we have been impressed by the wide variability of performance in older populations, including aviators. We believe that some cognitive ability measures may predict aviation performance better than age alone. Therefore, in our proposed work, we will include carefully selected cognitive measures to explain variability in aviation performance among older pilots. In the proposed work we will address the following key issues: 1) Overall Effects Of Age on Aviation Performance In Pilots Aged 50 to 70. Using an accelerated longitudinal study design, we plan to determine if there are significant age-related changes in performance among aviators 50 to 70 years old. We will follow 100 pilots over a three-year period and use regression analyses to evaluate the effects of chronological age on performance over time. (2) Overall Effects of Processing Speed on Aviation Performance. In the past we and others have found, on a cross-sectional basis, that performance on measures of speed of processing and working memory is correlated with performance on aviation-related tasks. We plan to test the hypothesis that longitudinal simulator performance can be predicted by measures of cognitive processing speed.