Comparative analysis of social, demographic, and flight-related attributes between accident and nonaccident general aviation pilots.

This investigation represents an exploratory examination of several differentiating social and demographic characteristics for a sample of calendar year 1978 Colorado-resident nonfatal accident-involved pilots and a random sample of nonaccident general aviation (i.e., nonairline) pilots. During 1979-1980 80 currently active pilots were interviewed by the author, and information concerning the standard demographic variables, in addition to several social, psychological, and flying-related items, was obtained. The sample was generated from commercially available data files derived from U.S. Government records and consisted of 46 accident and 34 nonaccident pilots who resided within a 100-mi radius of Denver, east of the Rocky Mountains. Descriptively, the respondents represented a broad spectrum of general aviation, including: corporate pilots, "crop dusters," builders of amateur experimental aircraft, and recreational fliers. Application of stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that the pilots' education, political orientation, birth order, percent of flying for business purposes, participation in nonflying aviation activities, number of years of flying experience, and an index of aviation procedural noncompliance yielded statistically significant results. Furthermore, utilization of the classification capability of discriminant analysis produced a mathematical function which correctly allocated 78.5% of the cases into the appropriate groups, thus contributing to a 56.5% proportionate reduction in error over a random effects model. No relationship was found between accident involvement and several indicators of social attachments, socioeconomic status, and a number of measures of flying exposure.