Beyond the Checklist: Pilot Education, Aviation Resources, and Health Management Skills

The research study investigates if pilots find aviation health-related materials provided from training or aviation associations to support their own health needs. A mixed methods convergent parallel design was conducted by sampling 27 pilots within general aviation to assess their utilization of aviation health-related materials, health management skills including self-efficacy and prioritization, as well as their views of implementing particular health topics into aviation training. Results of the study indicate that it is unclear if pilots find aviation health materials useful in managing their health, pilots have a relatively high level of self-efficacy and ability to prioritize one’s health and would find sleep hygiene to be beneficial to one’s aviation training. These findings suggest that further research is needed to investigate how supportive aviation health-related materials are for pilots to utilize and to implement sleep hygiene into aviation training, resources provided by aviation associations, and occupational therapy services to assist pilots with managing their health.