Pilot performance: assessing how scan patterns & navigational assessments vary by flight expertise

Area of Science:

• Aviation Psychology
• Human Factors Engineering
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Helicopter overland navigation is a complex cognitive task demanding extensive training and continuous monitoring.
• Pilot expertise is crucial for effective navigation, yet its impact on gaze behavior and accuracy requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how pilot expertise influences gaze patterns, navigation accuracy, and subjective difficulty assessments during simulated overland helicopter navigation.
• To differentiate the effects of expertise on easy versus difficult navigation routes.

Main Methods:

• 12 military officers with varying total flight hours (TFH) participated in a simulated overland navigation task.
• Participants studied a route map and then navigated a helicopter simulator, with eye-tracking recording out-the-window (OTW) and map scan data.
• Pre- and post-task assessments of navigational difficulty were collected.

Main Results:

• Total flight hours (TFH) did not correlate with navigation accuracy or root mean square (RMS) error.
• On difficult routes, expert pilots exhibited longer OTW scan times and fewer map fixations compared to novices.
• TFH was not significantly correlated with accurate route difficulty estimations.

Conclusions:

• Pilot expertise, as indicated by TFH, does not reliably predict overland navigation accuracy or subjective difficulty assessment.
• Specific gaze parameters, particularly on challenging routes, are associated with pilot experience, suggesting adaptive scanning strategies.