HUMAN FACTORS, 1984,26(5),557-564 An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Pilot Judgment Training GEORGETTE BUCH,I Canadian Air Transportation Administration, and ALAN DIEHL, Federal Aviation Administration

Pilot decisional errors have always been a significant factor in aviation accidents. Pilot judgment, however, traditionally has been viewed as an intrinsic quality or a by-product of flying experience. Only recently has it been examined as a potential flight-training require-ment. Over the past 10 years, initial steps have been taken in Canada and in the United States to validate the effectiveness of pilot judgment training. In this study, the judgment skills of Canadian civilian air cadets who received judgment training both in the classroom and in flight while earning a private pilot license were compared with the skills of a control group of cadets who received conventional training. The judgment skills of all subjects were measured during short, well-structured cross-country "observation flights. " The results in-dicate that those subjects who had received judgment training averaged fewer decisional errors than did their counterparts who had received the standard training only. These results suggest that pilot judgment can be improved with training