Long-haul crews have to be supported in a timely manner by adequate training tailored to address manual skills or by operational provisions like mixed-fleet flying or more frequent transitions between short-haul and long-haul operation.

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Objective. The aim of this study is to analyze influences on inter-rater reliability and within-group agreement within a highly experienced rater group when assessing pilots' non-technical skills.Background. Non-technical skills of pilots are crucial for the conduct of safe flight operations. To train and assess these skills, reliable expert ratings are required.Literature shows to some degree that inter-rater reliability is influenced by factors related to the targets, scenarios, rating tools, or to the raters themselves.Method. Thirty-seven type-rating examiners from a European airline assessed the performance of four flight crews based on video recordings using LOSA and adapted NOTECHS tools. We calculated r wg and ICC(3) to measure within-group agreement and inter-rater reliability.Results. The findings indicated that within-group agreement and inter-rater reliability were not always acceptable. Both metrics showed that outstanding pilots' performance was rated with higher within-group agreement. For cognitive aspects of performance, inter-rater reliability was higher than for social aspects of performance.Agreement was lower on the pass/fail level than for the distinguished performance scales. Conclusion.These results suggest to back pass/fail decisions not exclusively on nontechnical skill ratings. We furthermore recommend that regulatory authorities more systematically address inter-rater reliability in airline instructor training. Airlines as well as training facilities should be encouraged to demonstrate sufficient inter-rater reliability when using their rating tools.

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