Analysis of Low-Time Pilot Attitudes in University Aviation Association Member Flight Schools

Hazardous attitudes, such as antiauthority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation, may increase the risk of accident or incident in aviation. Hazardous attitudes is an overarching term, based on different perceptions and behaviors, which may negativity affect decision making in pilots. The Aviation Safety Attitudes Scale, which addresses attitudes in three areas (Self-Confidence, Risk Orientation, and Safety Orientation), was give to 302 low-time pilots (fewer than 250 hours of flight time). The purpose of this quantitative, survey research was to determine the potential hazardous attitudes of flight school students. Factorial Analysis revealed differences in three areas among the sample: Certification by Number of hours flown in previous 90 days interaction on Safety Orientation was overall statistically significant, F (2,296)=6.333, p=0.002; Certification by Gender integration on Risk Orientation was overall statistically significant, F (1,294)=4.48, p=0.035; and Gender by Certification interaction on Self-Confidence was overall significant, F (1,294)=10.324, p=0.01. The researchers concluded that although the overall hazardous attitudes of pilots are appropriate, there may be additional opportunities for instructors and curriculum developers to continually reinforce hazardous attitude awareness.