ABSTRACT
Selection tests designed to measure cognitive abilities are used widely in the world of aviation. It is not surprising that they have been used for the selection of the ab initio ATCOs for over 50 years considering that cognitive processing is key to effective ATC. What is surprising is the variability that has been found between institutions responsible for selecting ab initio ATCOs, both in the range of abilities they assess and the methods they use to do this. Whilst organisational differences in philosophy or culture may affect other aspects of selection criteria, one can assume that core cognitive skills are common to all successful controllers. The challenge, now and for the future, is to ensure that the selection measures used to evaluate the potential to gain these skills are appropriate and predictive of future performance.
