Assessing General Aviation Pilots' Weather Knowledge and Self-Efficacy

While accident trends in General Aviation (GA) have decreased overall, accidents rates involving weather have remained relatively consistent over the past 10 years. An assessment was developed and validated to assess if GA pilots lack adequate knowledge of aviation weather concepts. The assessment consisted of a 95 question Aviation Weather Knowledge multiple-choice test covering weather phenomena, aviation weather products, and aviation weather product sources. 204 GA pilots completed the knowledge questions along with an aviation weather self-efficacy (confidence) survey. Results indicated that while instrument rated commercial pilots demonstrated the highest levels of knowledge, their scores were only moderate – around 65% correct. Private pilots had scores in the 60% range. These results may indicate that pilots flying in GA operations have a relatively low level of aviation weather knowledge. Weather self-efficacy was correlated positively with aviation weather knowledge.