I bring you a weekly bite-sized chunk of the science behind helicopter human factors and CRM in practice, simplifying the complex and distilling a helicopter related study into a summary of less than 500 words.
TITLE:
Pilots gaze more outside while performing an auditory cognitive task
WHAT?
Exploratory simulator study of military helicopter pilots using eye-tracking tech. Two simulator experiments investigated whether performing an auditory task (active listening) influences pilots gaze behaviour while manually flying the aircraft.
WHEN?
2025.
WHERE?
Netherlands, Flight Simulator.
HOW?
Comparison of manual flying performance and gaze behaviour using eye tracking in two runs in a flight simulator, one while carrying out a simultaneous auditory task (dual task) and one without (single task).
WHY?
We know that performing auditory tasks has a pronounced effect on car drivers’ gaze behaviour. This had not yet been investigated in aviation. Study could determine whether gaze (where pilots look) can be used to indicate cognitive workload in the cockpit.
FINDINGS:
- Experienced pilots’ gaze dwell time outside the aircraft increased by a factor of 1.5 when carrying out a listening task.
- This was accompanied by an increase in mean fixation (staring) time.
- Mean altitude error in manual flying performance was significantly larger when conducting a dual listening task.
- This behaviour could be explained by the listening task commandeering a large proportion of cognitive resource (increasing workload).
- ‘Resting of eyes’ outside could be a means of reducing high information density from cockpit instruments in high workload conditions.
- Staring at the outside scene could be a technique used by experience pilots to manage the flight path in a cognitively efficient way by using the horizon for attitude information.
- The change in gaze behaviour could indicate an interference of the auditory task with usual instrument cross-checking.
SO WHAT?
- The fundamental principle ‘Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” as a basis for workload management encourages pilots to communicate only when it does not interfere with other tasks. However, the impact of listening on cognitive resource influences unconscious as well as conscious pilot behaviours.
- Several previous studies with pilots found that performing an auditory task while flying increases susceptibility to spatial disorientation.
- Eye tracking gaze analysis could provide a physiological measure of pilot workload.
REFERENCE:
Landman, A., Stuldreher, I. V., Van der Burg, E., Evertsen, F. W., Reuten, A. J., Ledegang, W. D., … & Groen, E. L. (2025). Pilots gaze more outside while performing an auditory cognitive task. Ergonomics, 1-11.
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