Eyes on the Approach: Eye Tracking Analysis of Pilot Scan Discipline During Simulated Instrument Landing System Approaches and Implications for Safety ETRA023

Understanding pilots’ visual attention during Instrument Landing System (ILS) approaches is critical for enhancing aviation safety and operational success. This study investigates gaze patterns of successful and unsuccessful approaches using eye tracking data collected in simulated ILS environments to identify distinct visual behaviors associated with successful performances. The findings show that successful approaches are characterized by a compact and purposeful visual scan with smaller convex hull, longer fixation, and greater variability in gaze directions, indicating expert attention allocation, deliberate visual anchoring, and purposeful scanning of key flight instruments. Additionally, successful pilots focused more on critical control instruments reflecting a cause-and-primary-error strategy compared to unsuccessful pilots exhibiting gaze patterns more consistent with symptom monitoring. These insights contribute to the development of gaze-based assessment metrics, training protocols, interface designs that promote adaptive visual strategies to optimize precision and control, thereby improving safety outcomes and operational reliability in aviation.