From Map to Sky: An Empirical Study on Visual Strategies of Expert Pilots

Abstract

For pilots, making the right choice of waypoints on an aeronautical chart for navigation is a complex cognitive task. This task involves the pilot's ability to match the geographical objects depicted on the maps with the mental representation of the corresponding physical objects, actually present in the natural environment. Our objective is to investigate the mental strategies, which are underlying expert pilots’ waypoints selection and to model them for training. This article presents a first modeling step, based on an empirical study using eye-tracking methodologies, combined with other experimental techniques.