PILOT SELECTION IN THE NORWEGIAN AIR-FORCE - A VALIDATION AND METAANALYSIS OF THE TEST BATTERY

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the test battery currently u sed for pilot selection to the Norwegian Air Force. Selection is curre ntly based on a standard battery of 20 different psychological tests a s well as on medical tests and on an interview by a licensed psycholog ist. First, two-factor analyses were conducted to examine the relation between the tests in the battery. Then, a correlation study was condu cted to evaluate the predictive validity of the tests against two crit eria of pilot performance collected during the basic training period. Finally, a small-scale metaanalysis of previous validation studies in Norway was conducted. The best predictors of success in training, base d on the meta-analysis, were Instrument Comprehension ((r) over bar = .29), Mechanical Principles ((r) over bar = .23), and Aviation Informa tion ((r) over bar = .22).