Expertise, Cognitive Ability, and Age Effects on Pilot Communication

We investigated whether expertise reduced age-related declines in pilot communication, using multiple expertise measures and laboratory tasks varying in domain relevance. Younger, middle-aged, and older pilots and nonpilots listened to air traffic control messages that described an aircraft's route through an airspace, while they referred to a chart of that airspace. They read back each message, then answered a probe question about the …