ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an examination of the higher level cognitive demands of modern cockpits on pilots. It focuses on the paramount role that experience plays in age-related cognitive changes. The chapter discusses methodological issues with assessing age effects on pilot performance. It examines age-related changes in simulator performance and accident rate. The chapter proposes an empirical approach to a better understanding of potential cognitive aging effects on piloting. Piloting is an exact, demanding, highly trained skill that is difficult to reproduce in laboratory. It involves not only multiple, individual cognitive functions but also their intricate interplay. The cognitive aging literature reveals great individual variability in aging. This basic finding and observations of actual job performances show that age accounts little for performance. The aviation literature reveals the difficulty of relying on accident data for understanding age effects. Performance-based evaluations, therefore, appear to be the most promising approach for evaluating age effects.
