Shifts in ability requirements as perceived among aviation operators

Kurzfassung

Abstract Comparing today’s control rooms or cockpits to those of about 30 years ago clearly shows huge differences in hard- and software, making changes in psychological requirements more than reasonable. To identify changes in ability requirements for operators in future aviation is of some concern when learning about solutions envisaged with large scale programs like NextGen or SESAR. However, as systems evolve step by step and sometimes without much notice, it might be that in retrospect requirement changes are assessed as being only of minor magnitude, whereas prospective ratings tend to over-interpret changes as they might be perceived as endangering one’s competence and routines. In this study, it is reported what more than 300 air traffic controllers and pilots described as perceived changes in ability requirements when comparing today’s aircraft or system with the one they have been trained for initially. Results were showing different pictures for the professions compared; however operational monitoring, information ordering, selective attention, time sharing and vigilance were always among the requirements with the highest perceived changes since initial training. Results will help to increase the understanding of past changes in ability requirements as perceived by job incumbents.