VALIDITY OF USING NON-PILOT SUBJECTS TO REPRESENT PILOTS IN A SUSTAINED ACCELERATION ENVIRONMENT

Background: A preliminary study determined the similarities between th e personality of military pilots (transport and fighter) and centrifug e subjects using the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS). Past , similar personality studies have shown differences between military fighter vs. transport pilots, and general population vs. male and fema le general aviators. To use subjects in lieu of pilots in the centrifu ge, they must represent the pilot characteristics of interest, for bot h ethical and scientific reasons. With the increase in measuring perfo rmance metrics (e.g., reaction time, tracking tasks, missile evasion) during centrifuge testing, any factor effecting performance must be ex plored. It is unknown whether personality effects performance. Methods : Cluster analysis of 36 pilot and subject personality tests consisted of the Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) program by Leonard Kaufman a nd Peter Rousseeuw (10) and Ward's method/K-MEANS clustering (CSS:STAT ISTICA). Results:: The clusters generated by the 36 pilots and subject s did not match the Retzlaff and Gibertini (21) clusters. Two clusters were preferred over three, and while the values of the personality va riables Dominance, Exhibition, and Aggression (DOM, EXH, ACC) were sim ilar, the pilot membership did not coincide. Subjects had basically th e same cluster characteristics as pilots and did not alter the pilot c luster composition characteristics when clustered together. Females di d not appear to differ from the males in the cluster analysis. Cluster ing did not differentiate between fighter and transport pilots using t he chosen variables. Conclusion: These preliminary results support the hypothesis that there are no major differences in personality between fighter pilots, transport pilots, or centrifuge subjects using the EP PS.