2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

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After primary training, some students can select panel navigation training conducted at Randolph
AFB, TX for the P-3C Orion or E-6 Mercury. The remaining students continue in VT-4 and VT-
10 to start intermediate training (CNATRA Instruction 1542.54L, 2002). After intermediate
training, students receive assignments to the Airborne Early Warning pipeline (training at
Norfolk, VA) or Strike and Strike-Fighter pipeline (training at Training Squadron 86 in
Pensacola) (CNATRA Instruction 1542.131B, 2001). After students finish the different training
pipelines, they receive their NFO wings. It is a long process that not everyone successfully
completes.
It is extremely expensive to put an aviator through the years of training required to
prepare him or her for their operational aircraft. If students cannot complete the program, the
service cannot recover the sunk costs that vary from $500,000 to $1,000,000 depending on which
stage of training the student failed to complete (Fenrick, 2002). Historically, the attrition rate is
20-30% of students with a majority of the losses occurring during the API and primary phases.
The Navy, therefore, has spent much time and money developing the ASTB as an economical
tool to predict a candidate’s performance and likelihood of attrition. If the ASTB predicts
positive performance, the student should theoretically succeed regardless of the student’s race or
gender. Past research, though, has detected a difference in performance based on an individual’s
race or gender.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Since the ASTB has gone through an extensive process to remove racial, ethnic, and
gender bias, it would follow that the performance of aviator candidates would not vary among
racial, ethnic, or gender groups. It has been observed that a large proportion of minority students
fail to complete primary nor do many finish at the top of his or her class. These two studies
explored the perceived difference in minority and gender performance versus male-caucasians at
aviator primary flight training.
STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS
The research hypothesis states that minority and female aviator candidates achieve
different primary NSS scores versus male-caucasian candidates. The null hypothesis states that
there will be no significant difference in NSS scores determined through multiple regression
analysis at the 95% confidence level.
METHODOLOGY
The names and social security numbers of the subjects who completed API were obtained
from the Naval Schools Command (NASC) database. ASTB scores and race codes were obtained
from CTW-6 TMS 2 database. This database will also be used to obtain the subjects’ primary
training phase academic, flight, and simulator grades represented by their grade point averages.
A regression equation was computed using ASTB academic and flight scores. These grades were
converted into a NSS and combined into an overall primary NSS. The subjects were then divided
into majority and minority groups. This classification was added as a variable in a multiple-
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003