Objective: This study examines whether the pilot flying’s (PF) scanning behavior is affected by the absence of the pilot monitoring (PM) and aims at deriving implications for the design of single-pilot cockpits for commercial aviation. Background: Due to technological progress, a crew reduction from two-crew to single-pilot operations (SPO) might be feasible. This requires a redesign of the cockpit to support the pilot adequately, especially during high workload phases such as approach and landing. In these phases, the continuous scanning of flight parameters is of particular importance. Method: Experienced pilots flew various approach and landing scenarios with or without the support of the PM in a fixed-base Airbus A320 simulator. A within-subject design was used and eye-tracking data were collected to analyze scanning behavior. Results: The results confirm that the absence of the PM affects the PF’s scanning behavior. Participants spent significantly more time scanning secondary instruments at the expense of primary instruments when flying alone. Moreover, the frequency of transitions between the cockpit instruments and the external view increased while mean dwell durations on the external view decreased. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the PM supports the PF to achieve efficient scanning behavior. Information should be presented differently in commercial SPO to compensate for the PM’s absence and to avoid visual overload. Application: This research will help inform the design of commercial SPO flight decks providing adequate support for the pilot particularly in terms of efficient scanning behavior.

This work focuses on the analysis of pilots’ performance during manual flight operations in different stages of training and their influence on gaze strategy. The secure and safe operation of air traffic is highly dependent on the individual performances of the pilots. Before becoming a pilot, he/she has to acquire a broad set of skills by training to pass all the necessary qualification and licensing standards. A basic skill for every pilot is manual control operations, which is a closed-loop control process with several cross-coupled variables. Even with increased automation in the cockpit, the manual control operations are essential for every pilot as a last resort in the event of automation failure. A key element in the analysis of manual flight operations is the development over time in relation to performance and visual perception. An experiment with 28 participants (including 11 certified pilots) was conducted in a Boeing 737 simulator. For defined flight phases, the dynamic time warping method was applied to evaluate the performance for selected criteria, and eye-tracking methodology was utilized to analyze the gaze-pattern development. The manipulation of workload and individual experience influences the performance and the gaze pattern at the same time. Findings suggest that the increase of workload has an increased influence on pilots depending on the flight phase. Gaze patterns from experienced pilots provide insights into the training requirements of both novices and experts. The connection between workload, performance and gaze pattern is complex and needs to be analyzed under as many differing conditions. The results imply the necessity to evaluate manual flight operations with respect to more flight phases and a detailed selection of performance indications.

Most accidents and serious incidents of commercial air transport helicopters occur during standard flight phases, whereby a main cause is pilots’ situational awareness. Enabling pilots to better assess their situational awareness can make an important contribution in reducing the risk of fatal accidents. One approach is to examine a pilot’s gaze behavior with the help of eye tracking. This paper reports the results of a case study with eye tracking measurements during real flight and simulator studies of a standard mission profile. The general gaze behavior is characterized by a dominant, external view, and the airspeed and altitude indicator as the most important flight instruments. A real-world applicability of gaze data obtained in the simulator could be shown.