Flash Blindness Recovery of a Tracking Task on Cockpit Attitude Indicators

Intense light exposures can cause temporary flash blindness, degrading pilot performance during flight. The present study investigated factors influencing time to recover from flash blindness for tasks resembling aircraft control using an attitude indicator. Prior similar studies of flash blindness used only reflective gauges whereas modern cockpits include emissive displays, so recovery differences between reflective and emissive instrument types were of interest as was the influence of varying ambient luminance levels.

Nine subjects performed attitude indicator horizon stabilization and tracking tasks on both a reflective and an emissive attitude indicator. Subjects were exposed to short (150 ms) high intensity broadband light flashes at three retinal exposure levels [6.5, 7.0, and 7.5 log troland-seconds (logTd·s)] beforehand. Additionally, ambient luminance was manipulated (1 cd · m-2, 10 cd · m-2, and 100 cd · m-2). The time to level the horizon after a flash exposure was measured. After leveling, roll and pitch errors made while maintaining straight and level flight by countering added perturbation were also tracked.

Greater flash intensity usually increased recovery time. For the reflective attitude indicator, as ambient luminance increased, flash intensity had weaker influence on recovery times, with recovery times ranging from 6-30 s. For the emissive attitude indicator, however, ambient luminance did not appreciably influence recovery times, with recovery times ranging from 8-16 s.

The reflective attitude indicator was more advantageous for flash blindness recovery in high (100 cd · m-2) ambient luminance and the emissive indicator was relatively more advantageous in low (1 cd · m-2) ambient luminance. Arizpe JM, McAnally RE, Hart MV, Kuyk TK, Smith PA, Goettl BP. Flash blindness recovery of a tracking task on cockpit attitude indicators. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2025; 96(12):1032-1042.