The Efficacy of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Mach-V in Formulating Determinates for Pilot Candidate Selection

Abstract

Researchers in crew resource management have sought to examine the association between personality and effective team leadership in the cockpit environment. In addition, most airlines make at least a subjective effort to assess personality style and decision-making skills by placing pilot candidates through a two or three stage interview process. In an ongoing effort at Auburn University to develop a comprehensive Pilot Candidate Selection Model, the authors’ purpose was to assess the MBTI and the Mach V as psychological instruments in facilitating the screening of pilot applicants through the development of a discriminate function or variant that would be both reliable and consistent. Neither of these instruments has been employed in the past to screen pilot candidates; yet they measure temperament and leadership skill and could prove useful as supporting instruments in the screening process. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a construct of personality type and the Mach V scale as a construct of skill in small group manipulation were employed in the survey of ninety-eight United States Air Force officers conducted over a three-year period. Research indicates a significant relationship in success in leadership of small groups and the Mach V scores. The authors were able to derive a discriminate function that proved 93 percent accurate in identifying professional pilots from a randomly selected sample of Air Force officers. The results of this study suggest the potential of the MBTI and the Mach V as supporting instruments in the screening of commercial pilot candidates for hire. The authors recommend extending this study to the commercial air carriers by selecting a test group of flight officers with strong CRM performance in order to validate the potential of the MBTI and the Mach V as instruments potentially useful in the larger effort to identify quality pilot candidates.