Abstract:

In order to reduce the percentage of human events in flight and guarantee the flight safety, this study carried out the flight simulation test in which pilots were required to deal with the fire warn and engine 1-fire occurring in the final approach, and investigated the visual attention allocation of pilots during that flight emergency. And then chose fixation counts (FC), fixation time (FT), percentage of FC(PFC), percentage of FT(PFT) and averaged fixation duration (AFD) in 4 AOIs as the visual attention allocation indicators, and flight decision-making and flight performance indicators were also recorded during the experiment. As the results showed all the attention allocation indicators in AOI 2 (Primary Flight Display, PDF) were larger than those in other AOIs before and during the fire warning emergency. And before the emergency, all of the values of FC, FT, PFC, PFT and AFD in AOI 1 (Fire Warning) were lower than those in AOI 3 (Navigation Display, ND) and AOI 4 (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System, EICAS), however, the value of FC, FT, PFC, PFT and AFD in AOI 1 were higher than AOI 4 during the emergency. And captains had lower value of FC, FT, PFC and PFT in AOI 2 than first officers. Besides they were more likely to implement the memory items after landing. As the results suggest, pilots' visual attention allocation is consistent with Aviate - Navigate - Communicate - System Management task priority rule during flight emergency, and then the failure of the fire warning disturbs the pilot's visual attention allocation, but flight experience can improve pilots' visual attention allocation.

Key words: flight emergency, airline pilots, visual attention allocation, area of interest (AOI), flight performance