Effects of Video Weather Training Products, Web-Based Preflight Weather Briefing, and Local Versus Non-Local Pilots on General Aviation Pilot Weather Knowledge and Flight Behavior. Phase 2

摘要

This research had two main phases. Phase 1 investigated three major questions, one of which was whether or not video weather training products could significantly affect general aviation (GA) pilot weather knowledge and flight behavior in marginal meteorological conditions. Fifty GA pilots took a general weather knowledge pre-test, followed by exposure to either one of two weather training videos (the Experimental groups) or to a video having nothing to do with weather (the Control group). They next took a post-test to measure knowledge gain induced by the training product. Finally, they planned for and flew a simulated flight mission through marginal weather from Amarillo, TX, to Albuquerque, NM. Multivariate modeling implied that a combination of higher pilot age, receiving either weather training product, and takeoff hesitancy could significantly, correctly predict 86.7% of diversions from deteriorating weather and 77.8% of full flight completions. The question then became whether or not this model would be robust over time. In the present study (Phase 2), after a time lapse of 3-4 months, 44 of the 50 original Phase 1 pilots returned for further testing. Again, they were tested for weather knowledge and flew a simulated flight mission similar to Phase 1's. No significant change in weather knowledge was evident from Phase 1 to 2, nor were any significant differences seen between the three treatment groups. Additionally, the 3-factor model of Phase 1 failed to significantly predict flight diversions or flight completions in Phase 2. The combined results of Phases 1 and 2 imply that the effects on weather knowledge and flight behavior of a single 90-minute training video seem minimal in comparison to the complexities of weather itself and flight into weather. This is consistent with intuition. Moreover, what small effects are produced seem to decay with None of this is unexpected. It merely means that weather is comple.