From an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University webinar presented January 24, 2018 by Dr. Karina Mesarosova. This webinar looks at how to use personality profiling tests to predict behavior in pilots and how it can be used for job hiring and placement.

1. Welcome!
Personality Traits that Predict Behavior in Pilots
24 January, 2018

2. Today’s Agenda
• Welcome/Introduction —Sandra Williams
• Presentation – Dr. Karina Mesarosova
• ERAU Professional Education Course
• Questions & Answers
Sandra Williams
Director Business Development
ERAU– Europe
Berlin, Germany

3. A few session pointers
1. We will answer questions at the conclusion of the presentation.
Post questions via the Chat Box at any time. We will answer as
many as we can.
2. Slides are available for download at any time
3. The recording link will be emailed to you
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4. Dr. Karina Mesarosova
• Adjunct Professor ERAU-Worldwide
• Managing Partner KM Flight Research and
Training
• EAAP-accredited Aviation Psychologist
• Member of British Psychological Society
and the European Federation of
Psychologists Association

6. Personality Traits That
Predict Behavior in
Pilots

7. Agenda
1. Introduction to personality
2. Norms – Comparing apples & pears
3. Research – Pilot differences
4. Profiles – Gaining safety and efficiency
benefits
5. Discussion

8. Personality
‘refers to individual
differences in
characteristic
patterns of thinking,
feeling and
behaving’

9. • Personality profiling has been in common use
for over sixty years.
• It is not a measure of intelligence or ability –
but of behaviour. Likelihood of behaviour.

10. Personality
Why is it Important?
• Personality (social competence) recognised by IATA have as an
essential component in all pilot selection (IATA 2012).
• Analyses of accidents, incidents (Thomas 2012) and safety investigations
within airlines (Burger, Neb & Hoermann 2003) has revealed that
operational safety was compromised by a lack of:
“Assertiveness, authoritative behaviour, poor decision
making, or a lack of situational awareness among flight
crew members”.

12. We know what is a good pilot
like!
Or do we?

13. Five Factor Model (FFM)
‘Big Five’ personality traits—
Neuroticism (N)
Extraversion (E)
Openness (O)
Agreeableness (A)
Conscientiousness (C)

14. • How many of you can’t stand to spend time
alone?
• Does being with other people exhaust you?

20. Based on this knowledge:
What will a professional commercial
pilots profile look like?

21. Neuroticism (N)
Extraversion (E)
Openness (O)
Agreeableness (A)
Conscientiousness (C)
Fitzgibbons, Davis, and Schutte (2004)

22. What will be the pilots profile in your
company?
Would there be differences? WHY?

23. • Hold that thought, I shall ask you again.

24. NEO Personality Inventory - Revised (NEO PI-R)
• Simple logic
• Scientifically based
• More factual than feeling
• Used in military aviation
• Reference to past research

25. • The relevance

26. The Relevance
• Pilots high on C1 (competence) and C3 (dutifulness) are more
likely to experience pilot error mishap and incidents (Barto et al,
2011).
• Pilots differ in C6 (deliberation) or thinking carefully before
acting, that have been found to be predictive of performance
(Chappelle, 2014).
• Pilots are lower on Neuroticism, N3 (depression) facet in
comparison to adult norm sets (Fitzgibbon et al, 2004) .

27. Personality
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) tip of the
Iceberg
• KSAs are relatively visible, easy to identify and manage.
Other characteristics:
• Behavioural
• More difficult to identify and manage

28. Why all this?
The regulatory proposal addressed the safety issues identified by
the EASA-led Germanwings Task Force.
• The Germanwings Task Force examined the findings of the BEA
accident report and assessed the adequacy of the European air
safety and security rules.
• As a result of this work, 6 recommendations were addressed to
the European Commission on 16 July 2015.
• Action via:
‘Special rulemaking procedure: direct publication’

29. Summary of EASA Key Objectives:
• Ensure flight crew undergo a psychological
assessment before commencing line flying.
• Ensure good quality of psychological
assessment.
• Based on best practices.
• Ensure a solid peer support structure.

30. Personality in Selection - Challenges
Many airlines selection are seeing a high fail-
rate in selection;
• Increased costs of recruitment
• Time
• Potential loss of good fit candidates
• Potential difficulties with the rapid growth
in global aviation recruitment

31. The Solution
• The Performance Based Professional Pilot
Personality Profile.
• Linked to real world performance (FDM, Line)
• Tailored to Organisational culture
• Validated by use in recent selections

32. The Importance of a Norm
• Norms refers to information regarding the
group performance of a particular reference on
a particular measure for which a person can be
compared to.

33. The Norm

34. Performance based Professional Pilot Personality
Profile
• Closing a known gap in Personality testing
system within Aviation Industry, that came to
forefront after the Germanwings accident.

35. What will be the pilots profile in your
company?
Would there be differences? WHY?

36. Comparison of General Working Population
(GWP) and other Airlines/Regions
 General working population (GWP) UK (N=1301)
 Outside EU - Pilots East (N=31)
 EU - Pilot North (N=300)
 EU - Pilots South (N=100)
 EU - Pilots Mixed (N=394)
 EU - Pilots West (N=132)

37. NEO across the regions
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
N E O A C
General norm (N=1301) Outside EU - Pilots East EU - Pilot North (N=300) EU - Pilots South (N=100) EU - Pilots Mixed (N=394) EU - Pilots AL (N=132)

39. Comparison of General Working Population
(GWP) and EU based Airline
Neuroticism (N)
Extraversion (E)
Openness (O)
Agreeableness (A)
Conscientiousness (C)

40. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
N
E
O
A
C
NEO DIMENSIONS
PX GWP

41. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
N1
N2
N3
N4
N5
N6
Neuroticism (N)
PX GWP

42. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
Extraversion (E)
PX GWP

43. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
O1
O2
O3
O4
O5
O6
Openness (O)
PX GWP

44. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
Agreeableness (A)
PX GWP
A1 Trust
A2 Straightforwardness
A3 Altruism
A4 Compliance
A5 Modesty
A6 Tender-Mindedness

45. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
Conscientiousness (C)
PX GWP

46. Where to use personality profiles?
• Selection (direct entry, ab-initio)
• Command upgrade selection
• TRI/TRE Selection
• CRM training
• Selection of CRM Instructors
• Selection of Peer support (peer support, the EASA
recommendation)

47. • A Profile Sample

48. The psychological assessment
• Adapted to operational environment.
• EASA recognise that ‘one size does not fit all’!
• A clear purpose of the assessment.

49. Personality Profiles - Potential Advantages
• We can re-visit your current selection process to achieve EASA regulation so
that you gain extra benefits of:
• A more predictable success rate
• Reduction in “sunken cost”
• High training success
• Good line performance
• Meet regulatory needs
• Prerequisite:
• Ensuring that you select the correct psychometric tools for your needs
• Transparency in data
• Learning from past selections (Identify critical factors)
• Compare selection cost training cost

50. Now we had the Introduction, if you are ready for
more, join us in Berlin in February 2018.

51. 2 –Days Professional Education Course at
Embry-Riddle Berlin Campus
“Personality Traits that predict behavior in
Pilots – How to get the best out of your
profiling tools”
Feb. 27 and 28, 2018
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
http://berlin.erau.edu/professional-education/index.html
COST: €950 +19% VAT
Contact: Sandra.williams1@erau.edu
Mobile: +49 (0)177-4062485

52. Thank you!
Questions & Comments

53. Thank You!
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