Office of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute


Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-80/15

Title and Subtitle: The Federal Aviation Administration's radar training facility and employee selection and training

Report Date: September 1980

Authors: Boone JO, Van Buskirk L, Steen J

Abstract: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently constructed a Radar Training Facility (RTF) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to aid in screening appropriate personnel for work in radar air traffic control (ATC). The approach is based on the idea that limited exposure to simulated radar ATC in a controlled and measured environment will lead to the identification of persons who possess the skills and attributes necessary for success in this type of work.

This report describes the results of a study performed at the FAA's National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (now FAA Technical Center) comparing an over-the-shoulder method of scoring student performance with scoring by computer-derived measures for use in screening at the RTF.

Results indicate that the computer-derived measures are far more reliable than over-the-shoulder scoring and the computer-derived measures predict a global rating of potential success in radar ATC at least as well as over-the-shoulder scoring. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to other automated training systems.

Key Words: Radar air traffic control, Computer-derived performance measurement, Simulation training, Measurement theory, Selection and screening, Objective performance measurement

No. of Pages: 25

Last updated: Friday, June 1, 2012