Pilotutbildning i olika länder : En intervjustudie om upplevd stress hos svenska stridspilotelever

Sammanfattning

The Swedish Air Force has a long history of training fighter pilots domestically in a unique educational environment where learning is optimized by reducing unnecessary stress. Recently, Sweden outsourced parts of its fighter pilot training to the USA and Italy. These new educational environments may differ from Sweden’s and could affect learning in Swedish fighter pilot students. By conducting interviews with Swedish fighter pilot students about their experiences of stress during pilot training, this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of how stress is perceived by military pilot students in different educational environments. The material was analysed using theoretic thematic analysis and the results show that stress was perceived very similarly among respondents within the same educational environment, but differed considerably between the three educational environments. Coping resources were found to be an important aspect of the educational environment, and a lack thereof seems to hinder effective coping. In Italy, accumulated stress and insufficient coping resources resulted in degraded motivation. The results also highlight that perceived stress is created through a complex interplay of environmental and individual factors which ought to be studied further.