Individual Differences in the Effect of Vertical Separation on Conflict Detection in Air Traffic Control

This research examined individual differences in judgments of the risk of aircraft separation violation. Fourteen controllers were asked to judge the risk of conflict for aircraft pairs varying in geometry and vertical separation. A cluster analysis revealed individual differences in how judgments of conflict risk changed with increased vertical separation. There were no individual differences in conflict risk judgments when vertical separation was 0 ft. However, as vertical separation increased to 2,000 ft and 4,000 ft, some controllers made progressively lower judgments of conflict risk than others. These findings have implications for the design of automation tools and for training.