Determinants of flight training performance: an analysis of the impact of undergraduate academic background

Abstract

This thesis uses pre-commissioning academic and demographic factors, along with flight school performance data to measure pilot success in flight school. The goal is to determine if undergraduate major or school attended affect flight school performance. Measure of effectiveness include: (I) Flight School Completion Status, (2) Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination Composite Scores, and (3) Primary Flight Training Composite Scores. Recruitment for naval aviators is focused on individuals with "technical majors," according to present policy of the Naval Recruiting Command. This recruiting philosophy is based on the "Rickover Hypothesis," which postulates that naval officers with technical degrees are superior to naval officers with non-technical degrees. The Logit model showed that aviators with engineering degrees have a statistically greater chance of completing flight school than aviators with non-engineering technical or non-technical degrees. In addition, the results showed an association between academic background and flight school performance. This research justifies the current Navy policy of concentrating aviator recruitment efforts on individuals with technical degrees.