Effects of auditory and visual feedback on remote pilot manual flying performance

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) have facilitated new growth in civil aviation. Unlike manned aircraft, however, they are operated without auditory feedback and normally flown under two visual conditions: in direct visual-line-of-sight to the remote pilot (VLOS) and beyond VLOS with first-person-view imagery transmitted via onboard cameras (BVLOS). The present research examined the effectiveness of audiovisual cueing on remote pilot manual flying performance. Eighteen pilots (three female) completed six navigation and 12 spotting tasks. Their flying performance (horizontal accuracy, vertical accuracy and timeliness) was examined under three different visual display types (VLOS (Control), BVLOS-Monitor & BVLOS-Goggles), with and without real-time auditory feedback, and two wind component (no wind and wind) conditions. Horizontal deviation and timeliness improved in the BVLOS-Monitor condition navigation task, while auditory feedback produced nuanced examples of improved and degraded pilot performance. These results indicate how the specificity of the task, combined with different levels of audiovisual feedback influences remote pilot performance. These findings support the rationalisation for the provision of multimodal dynamic sensory cueing in future RPAS. Practitioner summary: Accuracy and timeliness of remote pilot manual flying performance was measured under a combination of audiovisual feedback in calm and wind shear conditions. The inclusion of real-time auditory feedback as an additional sensory cue is uncommon; this study demonstrated nuanced examples of improved and degraded manual flying performance. The provision of dynamic sensory cueing made available to remote pilots in future RPAS should be considered.