Situational Judgement Test, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, non-technical skills, pilot selection, human factors. 1. Introduction The proliferation of UAS (drones) across civil, commercial, and military domains has increased demand for effective operator selection and training (ICAO, 2022). While technical proficiency in flight control is measurable, critical incidents often involve failures of judgement—e.g., prioritizing a visual fix over battery state, or misinterpreting controller handoffs.
Scenario: You are operating a UAS beyond visual line of sight. The ground control station displays a “Link Quality Low” warning, and you have not received a telemetry update for 12 seconds. Your mission objective is to survey a flooded area. What do you do?
Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) present candidates with realistic, work-related scenarios and ask them to rate or choose among possible actions. SJTs predict job performance in many high-stakes professions (medicine, air traffic control) by assessing procedural knowledge and tacit decision-making rules (Lievens & Sackett, 2012). However, no validated SJT currently exists for UAS operators. sit uas
A. Continue the mission, hoping the link recovers. B. Immediately initiate return-to-home (RTH). C. Climb to higher altitude to improve line of sight. D. Wait 30 seconds, then command RTH if no recovery.
Traditional technical assessments for UAS pilots focus on procedural knowledge, yet most operational failures stem from poor judgement under ambiguous or time-critical conditions. Existing selection tools lack scenario-based items specific to UAS challenges (e.g., beyond visual line of sight operations, lost link procedures). While technical proficiency in flight control is measurable,
Development and Validation of a Situational Judgement Test (SIT-UAS) for Unmanned Aircraft System Operators: Predicting Non-Technical Skills in Remote Piloting
Correct (expert rated best): B (Immediate RTH – prioritizes safety over mission) Least effective: A (Continued flight risks loss of aircraft) Your mission objective is to survey a flooded area
The SIT-UAS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing judgement in UAS operations. It offers a practical, low-fidelity alternative for selection and training needs analysis.