Integrated Hazard Displays: Individual Differences in Visual Scanning and Pilot Performance

Synthetic vision systems, of which integrated hazard displays may be an integral component, are being developed to allow for safe and efficient navigation through terrain-challenging or low-visibility conditions. In this study, 24 pilots flew a series of approaches while maintaining their position within a highway in the sky and responding to periodic queries regarding traffic location as represented within the integrated hazard display. Eye-movement data were examined to determine the effects of visual scanning behaviors on pilot performance (flight control, traffic awareness, and off-normal event detection). Overall, all pilots treated the flight task of aviating as primary, giving it the attentional resources required to maintain adequate performance. While scanning patterns were relatively equivalent between the offnormal event detection groups, the detectors did not appear to be as attentionally tunneled to the compelling SVS suite as the non-detectors, given that they were able to notice and respond to the non-database tower visible only in the outside world. In fact, pilots who failed to detect the off-normal event spent less time scanning the outside world on the relevant trial, where the ground truth information was represented. The results are interpreted within a task management framework mediated by performance resource functions.