Debiasing visual pilots' weather-related decision making

How flight experience impacts pilots' decision-making and visual scanning pattern in low-visibility approaches: preliminary evidence from eye tracking

The visual approach is the most accident-prone phase of a flight, especially in low-visibility conditions. This preliminary study aimed to examine the effects of flight experience on pilots' decision-making and visual scanning pattern in low-visibility approaches. Twenty pilots were separated into two groups based on their flight experience and completed the high- and low-visibility approaches in balanced order using a high-fidelity flight simulator. Pilots' mental workload and visual scanning patterns were recorded via an eye tracker. The results showed that, compared to less flight-experienced pilots (20%, 3/15), experienced pilots (80%, 4/5) were more likely to make go-around decisions in the low-visibility approaches. Furthermore, they exhibited a more flexible and adaptable visual scanning pattern by quickly shifting their attention, as evidenced by decreased fixations and increased saccades. These findings suggest that the integration of visual scanning strategy and training solution with a marginally meteorological approach may enhance decision-making safety for novice pilots.

Cognitive Style and Flight Experience Influence on Confirmation Bias in Lost Procedures

BACKGROUND: Accident analysis and empirical research have shown that the decision-making process of pilots after becoming lost is adversely affected by confirmation bias; this constitutes a serious threat to aviation safety. However, the underlying mechanism of confirmation bias in the context of lost procedures are still unclear.METHODS: This study used scenario-based map-reading tasks to conduct two experiments to explore the mechanism of confirmation bias in the lost procedures. In Experiment 1, 34 undergraduate students and 28 flying cadets were enrolled in a formal experiment to examine the effects of verbal-imagery cognitive style, experience level, and their interaction on confirmation bias. In Experiment 2, we further explored the influence of strategy as a core component of experience on confirmation bias with 26 flying cadets.RESULTS: The study found that individuals were subject to confirmation bias in lost procedures. Visualizers (M = 0.78, SD = 0.75) were almost twice as likely to select the disconfirmatory features than verbalizers (M = 0.37, SD = 0.49). Visualizers exhibited a lower degree of confirmation bias than verbalizers, and experience helps verbalizers to reduce their degree of confirmation bias. The protective effect of experience mainly lies in individuals’ choice of strategy.DISCUSSION: Future aviation safety campaigns could be aimed at adopting a candidate selection process that focuses more on psychological attributes by testing for cognitive style, and enriching individual experience through adequate training. Such measures would reduce confirmation bias.Xu Q, Wang M, Wang H, Liu B, You X, Ji M. Cognitive style and flight experience influence on confirmation bias in lost procedures. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2022; 93(8):618–626.