The Forgetting of Instrument Flying Skills

A laboratory study of forgetting was conducted, using an aircraft simulator as the research device. Two groups of subjects were used, with one group receiving twice the amount of original training as the other. The retention interval was four months for both groups. The principal result was that discrete procedural response sequences had statistically and practically significant loss over the retention interval, but proficiency in controlling flight parameters (tracking) and statistically significant losses in only some instances and never in operationally significant amounts.