The Measurement of Visual Efficiency Standards for Pilots in the United States Air Force

Abstract

Military aviation requires a high degree of visual skill and efficiency. The current visual standards for flying status in the United States Air Force employ static tests of visual function. Visual factors utilized in flight are continually changing to meet the demands of the situation. This study evaluates the performance of two carefully matched samples of people on a test of dynamic visual change, i.e., vergence facility. We compared the ability of a sample of military pilots to make rapid fusional movements in a base-in and base-out direction with a group of nonpilots matched for other normal visual characteristics. The number of times each subject could reestablish fusion while viewing an anaglyph target through alternating 16 delta base-out and 4 delta base-in prism lenses was recorded over a 1-minute time interval. We found the pilot's ability to initiate and sustain fusional vergence movements to be similar to that of their nonrated military counterparts. Our work does not indicate that this test of visual efficiency would discriminate between the pilots and nonpilots in our sample if it were included in a test battery to identify individuals with exceptional visual proficiency.