Technical Review

A Study on the Influence of Flight Trainees’ Stress on Flight Immersion and Abandonment

Seung Joon Jeon*, Yun Sick Jung**, Kyoung Eun Kim***
Author Information & Copyright
*Professor, Department of Aeronautical Science, Catholic Kwandong University
**Professor, Department of Aeronautical Science, Catholic Kwandong University
***Affiliated Professor, Department of Aeronautical Science, Catholic Kwandong University
Corresponding Author E-mail : massey2006@gmail.com, Corresponding Author Address : 24, Beomil-ro 579beongil, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, Korea

© Copyright 2022 The Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Aug 08, 2022; Revised: Aug 29, 2022; Accepted: Sep 29, 2022

Published Online: Dec 31, 2022

ABSTRACT

Stress refers to various body reactions that occur when humans are stimulated by environmental conditions. The quality of education and flight skills can suffer if flight trainees are constantly subjected to high stress, even in the case of flight trainees, and as a result, it can harm becoming a pilot. It is therefore the aim of this study to identify stress factors (flight training, career, financial support, relationships with family and teachers) that student pilots face, to determine how these factors affect flight and academic immersion and abandonment, and to improve the quality of flight education.

Keywords: Stress(스트레스); Flight Immersion(비행 몰입); Flight Abandonment(비행 포기); Flight Trainee(비행 교육생); Multiple Regression(다중회귀)

I. INTRODUCTION

From the Wright brothers until today, aircraft operation has grown exponentially. Consequently, the aviation market has made rapid progress so far with numerous advancements, such as the first modern civil passenger aircraft, the B247 that operated in 1933, the advent of the jet-engine passenger aircraft Comet which was influenced by world war 2, the B747 which led to the popularization of air travel, and the B767 which is the 4th generation of jet aircraft [1].

Amidst this remarkable progress in aviation operation, pilots are some of the highest-earning jobs and are highly sought after by many. However, it is also a stressful job due to the responsibility for the lives of many people, the need to react quickly to emergencies and the difficulty in making judgments about aircraft, etc., compared with other occupations [2].

Flight trainees who want to become pilots are also exposed to various stresses in the above circumstances while aviation training institutions are creating detailed and systematic training programs to produce excellent pilots. Additionally, several Korean universities train flight trainees, and these universities combine various liberal arts and major classes, including flight practice. Having to balance academic studies and flight instruction at the same time is not uncommon for flight trainees, so they are often physically and mentally stressed [3].

Stress is a variety of reactions in the body that occur when humans are stimulated by environmental factors. It also refers to a condition where one’s mind is hurt or intimidated. Stress destroys our mental and physical functions and weakens our bodies’ ability to adapt to the surrounding environment. Stress comes from an imbalance or mismatch between what is required by the surrounding environment and what one can do or it occurs when importance is emphasized [4]. The result of too much stress is not only losing interest in what one is doing, but also contributing to negative thoughts, resulting in exhaustion and slump, affecting confidence and overall performance [5].

Stress management is important to anyone. In particular, in the case of flight trainees the exposure to constant high stress increases the possibility of problems in improving the quality and skills of education, and hence the surrounding relationship with professors, instructors, and friends may deteriorate. As a result, this can have a negative effect when they become pilots. Furthermore, these adverse effects are maintained even as flight trainees later work for airlines, which can reduce the overall quality of pilots and may increase the probability of the risk of air accidents [6]. In addition to managing the stress of flight trainees, stress management is also necessary to protect individual students from stress as a result of increased frequency of experiencing stress [7] or giving up mid-flight education in order to achieve their dreams.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the stressors (flight education, future problems, family or financial problems, professor or instructor problems), investigate and analyze how these factors affect flight immersion and flight abandonment.

II. BODY

2.1 Theoretical Background

Flight trainees are not the subject of most studies on stress, but many previous studies have already been conducted on various stressors related to aviation. Choi, E. (2011) studied that stress causes airline pilots to suffer from loss of vitality, low morale, job dissatisfaction, and distortion of communication, which eventually affects their intention to change jobs [8], and Cho, S. (2006) studied that the stress of airline flight attendants can lead to problems in their job attitude [9]. Therefore, this study was conducted because it was necessary to consider the stress of flight trainees preparing for it as well as incumbent pilots and flight attendants.

2.2 Research Methods

The statistical processing of the collected data was analyzed using the SPSS v. 21.0 statistical package program through data coding and data cleaning processes. First, frequency analysis was conducted to identify the general characteristics of research respondents. Second, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to verify the feasibility of the measurement tool, and the Cronbach’s α coefficient was calculated to verify reliability. Third, descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to find out the stress, immersion in flight, and abandonment of flight, and independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were conducted to find out whether there was a difference according to the general characteristics of the survey subjects, and Duncan test was conducted as a post-test method. Lastly, correlation analysis was conducted to determine the correlation between each variable, and linear regression analysis was used to verify the hypothesis.

III. RESULTS

3.1 Demographic Characteristics of the Sample

Table 1 shows the results of frequency analysis to find out the general characteristics of the survey respondents.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the sample
Division Frequency(N) Percentage(%)
Gender Male 193 85.4
Female 33 14.6
Flight education step Private pilot course (before first solo flight) 125 55.3
Private pilot course (after first solo flight) 28 12.4
Instrument flight rating course 21 9.3
Commercial pilot course 18 8.0
Pilot training certification course 34 15.0
Total 226 100.0
Download Excel Table
3.2 Verification of the Feasibility and Reliability of Measurement Tools

The variables were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Principal component analysis was used as the factor analysis method, and factor analysis was performed based on Varimax’s rotation, assuming independence between factors, and at least 1 eigenvalue. The factor loading value, which represents the correlation between variables, is considered significant when it is 0.40 or higher, and when it exceeds 0.50, it is regarded as a very important variable [10].

Moreover, reliability can also be defined as the consistency of measured variables and variance between measurements for a unified concept over time. This study verified the reliability by calculating the Cronbach’s α coefficient used when using a scale composed of multiple items for one concept, and generally interpreted that there is no problem in reliability if the alpha coefficient is 0.60 or higher [11].

3.2.1 Verification of the feasibility and reliability for stress

The results of the feasibility and reliability tests for stress are presented in Table 2. The loading value of a total of four factors was 0.40 or more, so it was judged that the validity was verified, and the reliability was 0.60 or more, indicating that there was no problem.

Table 2. Validation & reliability for stress
Division Question Component
Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4
Factor 1
Flight education
3. I get stressed when I can't concentrate and have no confidence. .868 .009 .155 .094
4. I get stressed because of the pressure for flying. .842 .134 .221 .092
2. I get stressed when I don't have a break after the flight. .839 .127 .243 .093
1. I get stressed because the amount of flight is not as much / little as I want. .835 .189 .226 .103
Factor 2
Professor or instructor problems
12. I am stressed out because I don't get along with my professor or instructor. .183 .853 .055 .159
14. I am stressed out because professors or instructors treat me differently from other students. .140 .845 .003 .173
15. I am stressed when I'm pointed out by professors or instructors. .064 .805 .129 .153
13. I am stressed because things do not go well as the professors or instructors tell me to. .038 .714 .334 .143
Factor 3
Future problems
5. I am stressful worrying that I cannot get a job as a private pilot or a military pilot. .288 .114 .868 .120
6. I am stressful because I am afraid I will not succeed after I get my pilot's license. .282 .166 .863 .045
7. Sometimes I think my future is uncertain. .255 .134 .828 .191
Factor 4
Family or financial problems
10. I am stressed because there is lots of parents' interference. .102 .326 -.038 .800
11. I am stressed because there is lots of parents' expectation. .003 .242 .148 .789
9. I am stressed when I'm interfered with my private life. .111 .051 .014 .784
8. I'm stressed because of the financial burden of flying. .152 .071 .322 .744
Eigen value 3.196 2.900 2.625 2.620
Variance description (%) 21.307 19.334 17.498 17.465
Cumulative description (%) 21.307 40.641 58.140 75.605
Reliability .908 .861 .911 .828

KMO=.856, Bartlett's test X2=2,125.919 (df=105, p=.000).

Download Excel Table
3.2.2 Verification of the feasibility and reliability of flight immersion

The results of verification of the feasibility and reliability for flight immersion are shown in Table 3. The loading value of a total of one factor was 0.40 or more, so it was judged that the validity was verified, and the reliability was 0.60 or more, indicating that there was no problem.

Table 3. Validation & reliability for flight immersion
Division Question Component
Factor1
Factor 1
Flight immersion
4. I want to learn more about what I have learned. .930
5. I try to make new content that I learned in class as mine. .906
1. I participate by focusing on flight theory and practical training. .889
3. I enjoy the class. .882
2. I prepare for my prior planning of flight and my school studies thoroughly. .829
Eigen value 3.942
Variance description (%) 78.840
Cumulative description (%) 78.840
Reliability .932

KMO=.871, Bartlett's test X2=967.539 (df=10, p=.000).

Download Excel Table
3.2.3 Verification of the feasibility and reliability for flight abandonment

The results of verification and reliability for flight abandonment are shown in Table 4. The loading value of a total of one factor was 0.40 or more. The validity of the study was verified, and the reliability was 0.60 or higher, which indicated that there was no problem.

Table 4. Validation & reliability for flight abandonment
Question Component
Factor1
Factor1
Flight abandonment
3. I've thought about quitting flying because I don't like the educational facilities and the environment of flying. .901
2. I've thought about quitting flying because of professors or instructors. .865
1. I've thought about quitting flying because I am not good at flying as anyone else. .793
5. I've thought about quitting flying because of uncertainty about the future. .790
4. I've thought about quitting flying because of family reasons. .774
Eigen value 3.412
Variance description (%) 68.236
Cumulative variance description (%) 68.236
Reliability (Cronbach's α) .881

KMO=.818, Bartlett's test X2=633.184 (df=10, p=.000).

Download Excel Table
3.3 Technical Statistical Analysis
3.3.1 Stress

The results of the analysis on the stress of flight trainees are as shown in Table 5. Overall, it indicated that “future problem stress” was the highest as M=3.77, and average stress was 3.27 points. It is assumed that the situation that most students are facing in the present is important, but due to the nature of flight education, the financial part required to prepare is larger than that of other jobs, so the strain on the possibility of employment difficulties was greatly affected.

Table 5. Stress of flight trainees
Division Stress Total
Flight education Future problems Family or financial problems Professor or instructor problems
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD
Gender Male 3.45 .968 3.71 1.090 3.10 .885 2.72 .972 3.21 .697
Female 3.73 .768 4.13 .740 3.48 .835 3.27 .878 3.62 .567
t-value (p) -1.623 (.106) -2.770** (.007) -2.268* (.024) -3.074** (.002) -3.802*** (.000)
Flight education step Private pilot course (before first solo flight) 3.25a 1.015 3.58ab 1.059 3.19 .850 2.75a .961 3.17a .729
Private pilot course (after first solo flight) 3.65ab .834 3.82ab 1.036 3.13 .762 2.75a 1.047 3.31a .568
Instrument flight rating course 3.67ab .695 3.46a 1.176 3.01 .976 2.73a .990 3.20a .729
Commercial pilot course 3.81b .673 4.13bc .978 2.85 .900 2.39a .948 3.24a .451
Pilot training certification course 3.96b .767 4.45c .651 3.29 1.036 3.28b .857 3.70b .594
F-value (p) 5.352***(.000) 6.022***(.000) .953 (.434) 3.086*(.017) 4.229**(.003)
Total 3.49 .945 3.77 1.055 3.16 .886 2.80 .977 3.27 .693

* p<.05

** p<.01

*** p<.001.

Duncan : a<b>c

Download Excel Table

There was a statistically significant difference between overall stress and sub-factor stress after analyzing whether there was a difference according to the general characteristics of the survey subjects. And women tended to be more stressed than men in the same situation judging from the sub-factor stress of Future problems, Family or financial problems, and Professor or instructor problems.

In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between overall stress and stress by sub-factor depending on the flight education step (p<.05), in the case of the pilot training certification course, the overall stress and the stress of the professor or instructor problem. There was a significant difference between pilot training certifications and commercial pilot course, showing that flight education and future problem stress were relatively high.

3.3.2 Flight immersion, Flight abandonment

Table 6 shows the results of analyzing the flight immersion of flight trainees and the abandonment of flight. As a result of the analysis, the overall flight immersion was 3.78 points on average, and the average flight abandonment was 2.93 points on average.

Table 6. Flight immersion & abandonment
Division Flight immersion Flight abandonment
M SD M SD
Gender Male 3.82 .708 2.90 1.018
Female 3.53 .914 3.12 .933
t-value (p) 1.776 (.084) -1.170 (.243)
Flight education step Private pilot course (before first solo flight) 3.80 .684 2.81 .983
Private pilot course (after first solo flight) 3.93 .579 3.11 1.080
Instrument flight rating course 3.97 .741 2.96 1.189
Commercial pilot course 3.71 .614 2.89 .780
Pilot training certification course 3.49 1.053 3.24 .988
F-value (p) 1.970 (.100) 1.501 (.203)
Total 3.78 .747 2.93 1.007
Download Excel Table

As a result of analyzing whether there is a difference according to the general characteristics of the survey respondents, there was no statistically significant difference depending on gender and flight education step (p>.05).

3.4 Correlation Analysis

The results of analyzing the correlation between each variable are shown in Table 7. According to the result of the analysis, stress was found to have a statistically significant negative (-) correlation with flight immersion by sub-factors of stress of flight education (r = -.391, p<.001), future problem (r =-.330, p<.001), family or financial problems (r =-.424, p<.001), professor or instructor problems (r =-.430, p<.001). Stress was found to have a statistically significant positive (+) correlation with flight abandonment by sub-factor of the stress of flight education (r =.431, p<.001), future problems (r =.479, p<.001), family or financial problems (r =.430, p<.001), professor or instructor problems (r =.591, p<.001). Besides, Flight immersion was found to have a statistically significant negative (-) correlation with flight abandonment (r = -.444, p<.001).

Table 7. Correlation between each variable
Division Stress Flight immersion Flight abandonment
Flight education Future problems Family or financial problems Professor or instructor problems
Flight education 1
Future problems .535*** 1
Family or financial problems .271*** .310*** 1
Professor or instructor problems .304*** .339*** .420*** 1
Flight immersion -.391*** -.330*** -.424*** -.430*** 1
Flight abandonment .431*** .479*** .430*** .591*** -.444*** 1

*** p<.001.

Download Excel Table
3.5 The Verification of Hypotheses
3.5.1 Verification of hypothesis 1

Table 8 shows the results of multiple regression analysis to verify the effect of stress on flight immersion of flight trainees. As a result of the analysis, the explanatory power of the regression model was 31.2%, and the regression equation was analyzed to be statistically significant (F =25.107, p<.001). Family or financial problems (β=-.246, p<.001), professor or instructor problems (β=-.241, p<.001), and flight education (β=-.224, p<.01) by sub-factors of stress were found to have a statistically significant negative (-) effect on flight immersion. Therefore, it can be seen that the higher the family or financial problems, professor or instructor problems, and flight education stress by sub-factors of stress are, the lower the flight immersion is.

Table 8. Effect of stress on flight immersion
Division Non-standardization factor Standardization factor t p
B S.E β
(Invariable) 5.706 .205 27.896 .000
Flight education -.177 .053 -.224 -3.335** .001
Future problems -.037 .048 -.053 -.772 .441
Family or financial problems -.207 .053 -.246 -3.909*** .000
Professor or instructor problems -.184 .049 -.241 -3.775*** .000
R2=.312, Adj. R2=.300, F=25.107***, p=.000, Durbin-Watson=2.000

** p<.01

*** p<.001.

Download Excel Table
3.5.2 Verification of hypothesis 2

Table 9 shows the results of multiple regression analysis to verify the effect of stress on flight abandonment of flight trainees. As a result of the analysis, the explanatory power of the regression model was 47.4%, and the regression equation was analyzed to be statistically significant (F =49.815, p<.001). Professor or instructor problems (==).410, p<.001), future problems (==.211, p<.01), flight education (==.154, p<.01), and family or financial problems (β=. 151, p<.01) by sub-factors of stress had a statistically significant positive (+) effect on flight abandonment.

Table 9. Effect of stress on flight abandonment
Division Non-standardization factor Standardization factor t p
B S.E β
(Invariable) -.122 .241 -.505 .614
Flight education .164 .062 .154 2.620** .009
Future problems .201 .057 .211 3.530** .001
Family or financial problems .172 .063 .151 2.743** .007
Professor or instructor problems .422 .058 .410 7.345*** .000
R2=.474, Adj. R2=.465, F=49.815***, p=.000, Durbin-Watson=1.798

** p<.01,

*** p<.001.

Download Excel Table

Therefore, it can be seen that the higher the stress of professor or instructor problems, future problem, flight education, family or financial problems by sub-factors of stress is, the higher the flight abandonment is.

3.5.3 Verification of hypothesis 3

Table 10 shows the results of a simple regression analysis to verify the effect of flight immersion on flight abandonment. As a result of the analysis, the explanatory power of the regression model was 19.7%, and the regression equation was analyzed to be statistically significant (F =55.115, p<.001). Flight immersion as an independent variable (β=-.444, p<.001) was found to have a statistically significant negative (-) effect on flight abandonment. Therefore, it can be seen that the higher the flight immersion is, the lower the flight abandonment is.

Table 10. Effect of flight immersion on abandonment
Division Non-standardization factor Standardization factor t p
B S.E β
(Invariable) 5.198 .311 16.709 .000
Flight immersion -.599 .081 -.444 -7.424*** .000
R2=.197, Adj. R2=.194, F=55.115***, p=.000, Durbin-Watson=1.749

*** p<.001.

Download Excel Table

IV. CONCLUSION

This study aimed to examine the various stresses that flight trainees face as they prepare for their future careers. The survey results show that most survey respondents were greatly stressed, and there was a lot of stress, when it came to the future. This is because it seems to be expected to face difficulties in getting a job in the future due to the characteristic of the job of the aircraft pilot. In addition, unlike other occupations, it is judged that it comes as a big problem because of the large number of efforts such as time and economic burden spent preparing.

As verified in the hypothesis, this stress not only lowers the immersion of flight trainees but also affects the flight abandonment. Therefore, to manage stress properly, various dimensions must be considered as well as, research aimed at identifying and adapting to various situations, not restricted to a specific situation, and to ensuring safe operations and flight education.

Identifying and preparing systematic management measures for civilian and military pilots as well as flight trainees are expected to be a potential future research project that will enhance aviation safety in Korea.

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