Analysis of determinants of student pilot success for United States Naval Academy graduates

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine which characteristics and outcomes that are measured/determined at the Naval Academy serve as the best predictors of attrition from naval pilot training before or during the Primary phase, as well as performance in the first two stages of training: the academic portion of Aviation Preflight Indoctrination (API) and the flying portion of Primary phase. The reason for this is twofold; 1.) to examine the current aviation assignment policy at the Naval Academy (predominantly based on ASTB and OOM) to determine if it is significantly related to pilot performance (academic, flying and attrition) in flight school, and 2.) to examine alternative criteria to determine the possibility of developing a more effective model for predicting performance.