Spotlight on Aerospace Solutions
The aerospace sector is evolving rapidly, shaped by advances in technology, increasing system complexity, and heightened expectations for safety, efficiency, and accessibility.
AIR brings interdisciplinary social and behavioral science research and technical assistance to support this evolution, with deep, long standing expertise in human performance, STEM education, workforce and training systems, job analysis, policy analysis, and program evaluation.
Building on a legacy that began with aviation psychology and continues through decades of work with the Federal Aviation Administration, airports, and federal partners, AIR applies rigorous evidence and practical insight to address today’s most pressing aerospace challenges.
Building on this experience, AIR is continuing to address the emerging workforce, human factors, organizational, community acceptance, and policy questions across the aerospace ecosystem. Together, these capabilities help ensure that aerospace systems are safe, effective, and responsive to the needs of workers, industry, and the public.
Joseph P. Wilson
Managing Director
AIR's history as a behavioral and social science firm begins with aerospace, where our teams developed a screening process for commercial pilots in the 1950s. We have decades of behavioral and social science expertise that can help the aerospace industry generate and use evidence as it is evolving so quickly.
Joseph P. Wilson
Managing Director
Our Work in Aerospace Solutions
Partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Over decades of partnership with the FAA, AIR has advanced the safety and efficiency of the nation’s airspace through rigorous, behaviorally grounded research and applied solutions. Our work spans the full aviation workforce lifecycle—from improving how air traffic controllers are selected, trained, and evaluated to strengthening safety data systems and understanding the human factors that shape performance. View all our FAA projects.
Competency Connections: Bridging Industries and Education
As part of a partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, AIR works with leaders from business, education, and labor sectors, along with the public workforce investment systems, to create comprehensive and readily accessible documentation of the skills and competencies required in economically vital industry sectors (e.g., manufacturing, IT hospitality, health care).
Job Description Update for Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA)
Founded in 1970, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) manages Nashville, Tennessee's airport systems. Because of its fast growing population, MNAA requested that AIR conduct a comprehensive review, analysis, and update of job descriptions be performed for its workforce of approximately 300 employees.
Los Angeles World Airports - Training Customer Service Personnel on the Needs of Travelers with Disabilities
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) worked with AIR to provide gold standard service to travelers with disabilities. Through AIR’s interactive online training, customer service personnel learned about disability law, gained a deeper understanding of the needs of travelers with disabilities, and roleplayed respectful etiquette for serving these customers.
Mental Workload and Fatigue in Transportation Security Officers
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) mitigates threats by employing a multi-faceted risk-based system that includes behavior detection. Behavior detection officers need to maintain situation awareness and scan the airport environment for indicators of a security threat. AIR conducted focus groups with behavior detection officers to identify those factors.
Behavior Detection Officer Selection System (TSA)
AIR developed a valid and legally defensible selection system for a specialized security job for Transportation Security Administration (TSA). We conducted a nationwide job analysis, developed and piloted selection tests (such as a structured interview and several work sample tests) and a performance measure, and conducted a criterion-related validation study.
