Analog and Digital Clock Refresher Training for Improvement in Identifying Aviation Traffic

Air traffic controllers frequently point out other airplanes using a clock analogy (e.g., “Traffic 10 o’clock,”). This study explored the extent to which young pilots, who grew up in the digital age, understand an analog clock metaphor. Fourteen pilots were randomly assigned to either an analog clock or a digital clock refresher training group. Participants flew a 15-minute flight scenario pretest. During the pretest, participants heard prerecorded announcements of potential traffic factors. After the pretest, the analog group viewed 100 slides of analog clocks and the digital group viewed 100 slides of digital clocks set for various times. Following the refresher training participants flew a posttest that was similar in difficulty to the pretest. No differences in time to identify traffic between the pretest and posttest were found for the analog group. However, participants in the digital group identified flight traffic faster during the posttest when compared to the pretest.