Submitting Campus
Daytona Beach
Department
Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology
Document Type
Report
Publication/Presentation Date
4-2005
Abstract/Description
Adverse weather is the leading cause of fatalities in general aviation (GA). In this research, influences of ground visibility, cloud ceiling height, financial incentive, and personality were tested on 60 GA pilots' willingness to take off into simulated adverse weather. Results suggested that pilots do not see "weather" as a monolithic cognitive construct but, rather, as an interaction between its separate factors. This is supported by the finding that the multiplicative statistical effect of visibility and ceiling could better predict takeoff than could the linear effect of either variable considered separately. Also found was a statistical trend toward financial incentive being able to predict takeoffs. However, none of the 10 personality tests (incorporating over 500 separate response items) could predict takeoff.
Sponsorship/Conference/Institution
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Aerospace Medicine
Location
Washington, DC
Paper Number
DOT/FAA/AM-05/7
Number of Pages
44
Scholarly Commons Citation
Knecht, W., Harris, H., & Shappell, S. (2005). The Influence of Visibility, Cloud Ceiling, Financial Incentive, and Personality Factors on General Aviation Pilots' Willingness to Take Off Into Marginal Weather, Part I: The Data and Preliminary Conclusions. , (). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/publication/1220
Additional Information
Dr. Shappell was not affiliated with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at the time this report was published.