An Empirical Analysis of the Gaze Behavior of Aircraft Pilots within a Highly Automated Aircraft-Air Traffic Control Environment

Abstract

An increasing level of automation in the flight cockpit more and more prevents pilots from receiving direct feedback from the aircraft. This lack can result in deficient situation awareness, which can degrade the dependability of the pilot-aircraft system. To assist the pilot in maintaining a high level of situation awareness, it has been proposed to develop a system monitoring the pilot’s gaze behavior, comparing it with a model, and reacting appropriately, if meaningful deviations occur. Therefore, the impact of the aircraft’s states and the communication with the air traffic control on the gaze behavior has been investigated previously. The study’s conclusions are, however, only based on one professional pilot, which impedes generalization. This is why this paper aims (a) at replicating the effects of the aircraft’s states and communication efforts on pilots’ gaze behavior and (b) at analyzing whether there are interindividual differences in the gaze patterns of pilots. For this purpose, a study with twelve professional pilots has been conducted during which two scenarios where flown while the states of the aircraft, the communication with the air traffic control, and the pilot’s gaze behavior were recorded. Data analytic procedure revealed significant interindividual differences: Visual attention on the center pedestal and a navigation display varied between persons. In addition, the results replicated the findings of the one-participant study: It is especially the altitude of the aircraft and the communication, which impact the pilots’ visual attention.