Provided is a method for controlling a cooling device that includes pump (1) having pump characteristics defined by a relationship between the number of revolutions and a pressure value, and cooling fan (5), and the cooling device cools an object to be cooled by a cool wind generated by injecting air compressed by pump (1) and a cooling wind of cooling fan (5). The method includes: preparing beforehand a first parameter to associate an altitude with a change rate d of a gradient of the pump characteristics at one altitude with respect to a gradient of the pump characteristics at another altitude; and controlling the numbers of revolutions of pump (1) and cooling fan (5) based on an altitude calculated from the first parameter and the change rate d.