Office of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute


Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-72/18

Title and Subtitle: A proposed new test for aptitude screening of air traffic controller applicants

Report Date: May 1972

Authors: Cobb BB, Mathews JJ

Abstract: The study concerns the development and experimental validation of a novel aptitude test, referred to as 'Directional Headings' (or DHT), for the selection of Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) trainees. The test requires the subject to rapidly interpret letters, symbols, and degrees in order to determine: directional headings (Part I), the exact opposites of headings (Part II), and opposites of headings under conditions of aural distraction (Part III). Reliability of the instrument, as determined by corelating the scores based on even-numbered items versus scores based on odd-numbered items, was .93.

Key Words: Air Traffic Controllers, Aptitudes, Personnel Selection

No. of Pages: 26

Last updated: Friday, June 1, 2012