DESIGN OF AN AB-INITIO PILOT SELECTION PROCESS WITH REDUCED CULTURAL AND LANGUAGE BIAS (*Ab-initio pilot = training pilots from the beginning, 0 flying hours) Karina Mesarosova MSc, BSc (Hons), MBPsS, MIEHF, MEAAP KM Flight Research and Training
[email protected] Abstract – With the rapid globalization of aviation many nonEuropean airlines are sending their nationals for flight training based on European designed selection processes, with minimal scientific validation (for different cultures) or adapted for those with English as a second language (ESL). There is a need to ensure that the Airline selects candidates who have the ability to succeed with minimum training risk; to achieve this aim, the fairness and effectiveness of the selection process must be proven and this leads to major questions from the rapidly expanding aviation markets of the Middle East and Asia. To address the cultural & language differences, participants of different nationalities (EU & Arabic) and languages (English, other than English within EU & Arabic) were identified. Language barriers were addressed through participants undergoing mathematics and physics testing in English and Arabic, the pilot aptitude assessment (PILAPT®) was aided with a Gulf Arabic translation brochure. The effect of language was very evident in both the PILAPT® IP task, with a significant positive correlation with English language ability (IELTS) listening score (r=.408, p 0.01). Overfly on the Warrior was not significantly (p < 0.05) predicted by any of the PILAPT ® test results, however the negative relationship between the 2D,3D and overall PILAPT® and overfly indicates that the higher score on 2D,3D and overall PILAPT® the lower overfly hours required. EU cadets -SENECA (single engine) overfly predictors: Multiple regressions, sample size 181, with 5 predictors, overall the model accounts for only 7.4% of the variance in overfly hours on Seneca twin engine aircraft, however it is a significant fit (F= (5,175) =2.8, p
