Limitations of current spatial ability testing for military aviators

Spatial ability has long been considered an important attribute when identifying military aviators. This paper examines the Direction Orientation Task (DOT), which is currently used by the US military to assess spatial ability in aviation applicants. Several limitations of the test, such as a limited number of trials and the availability of practice trials online, make it subject to potential ceiling effects. The paper presents historical data of all Naval Aviator applicants over a six-year time period and revealed that 22% of applicants answered 90% or more of the questions correctly. Furthermore, test performance has significantly increased in the years since the test was first administered and there is evidence that DOT is no longer contributing incremental validity. A follow-up empirical study looked at DOT performance and strategy in a group of military student aviators and student air traffic controllers. The results of the empirical investigation reveal that the use of an analytic strategy was associated with higher performance on the DOT, whereas the use of a spatial strategy was not associated with performance. Taken together, the improved performance data over time and the data on strategy use suggest the test’s ability to measure spatial ability may be diminishing, ultimately reducing its construct and incremental validity. This is problematic and should be addressed, since the DOT is the only measure of spatial ability used by the Navy to assess aviation applicants.