The Effect of Pilot Age on Perceptions of Pilot Performance and Attitudes Toward the Implementation of Ergonomic Redesign Interventions for Older Pilots

As the workforce increasingly ages, it will be critical to find ways of accommodating the decrements in abilities that come with age. Finding accommodations will be of particular concern for occupations such as airline pilot, in which small errors may result in fatal accidents. This study examined the perceived performance of older pilots, if information on ergonomic redesign interventions had a significant effect on attitudes toward ergonomic redesign interventions for older pilots, and how perceived performance and type of information interacted to affect attitudes toward ergonomic redesign interventions for older pilots. Participants in the study included 147 flight instructors and 24 student pilots. Results and implications for future research are discussed.