Analysis and Control of Pilot Gaze Behavior to Support Basic Flight Training

Abstract

It has been shown that expert gaze behavior can be used to enhance training for novices, among others in the field of laparoscopic surgery. The research in this paper focused on the effect of changing pilot gaze behavior on flight performance and detection task performance. Two groups of novices were shown a recording of expert behavior, including an indicator of the expert's gaze. The actively trained group was additionally shown a gaze director during training, to suppress the field of view outside of a set gaze point. Said gaze point moved around in a basic scanning sequence, encouraging this scanning pattern in the participants. Both groups were then evaluated on flight and detection performance in a segment of straight level flight, during which objects around the aircraft had to be detected. The \ga showed a larger change in gaze behavior between the before and after training tests, accompanied by a reduction in flight performance. Detection task performance was comparable for both groups. The gaze director thus seemed to distract participants from the tasks. One suggestion for future improvement is to focus on tuning the gaze director's timing using questionnaires. Alternatively, further research could focus more on the passive exposure of novices to expert gaze behavior, and compare this to a control group.