Many aviation training providers are currently operating at capacity, yet as the industry prepares to recruit more than 250,000 new pilots worldwide, their training systems will need to be efficiently scaled up and updated to meet the demand. Further, airlines and training providers embracing evidence-based training practices are demanding new tools to support their instructors’ ability to objectively measure and train how pilots monitor their instruments.

Seeing Machines’ eye tracking Crew Training System supports aviation training providers and instructors with intelligent data that can be used in the selection, training and assessment of pilot candidates, as well as in the continuing training of line pilots. Our unique technology provides insights into pilot scanning techniques, and supplies instructors with an objective assessment of what their trainees are looking at (e.g. speed tape, height, glide slope, heading, FMA), at any given point in time during a flying sequence.

Instructors can observe crew instrument scanning in real time in the Full Flight Simulator environment, as well as during debrief. Instructors can quickly identify scan breakdowns, missed information, CRM attention distribution (PF & PM), and SOP adherence or deviation. Trainees can benefit from objective feedback from their eye tracking replay, as they achieve even higher levels of performance.

Commercial, cargo and business jet flight crew regularly perform complex, safety-critical tasks using highly sophisticated aircraft systems. Flight crew duties often include multiple take-offs and landings, and they routinely work irregular schedules that involve night time operation, long-haul duty periods, early start times, and flying during the pilot’s “Window of Circadian Low”.

Combined, this can place pressure on – and limit – sleep quality and quantity, contributing to elevated levels of flight crew fatigue, which particularly pose a risk during critical phases of flight. Regulators impose Flight Time Limitations as a mitigation to reduce this fatigue risk, as well as flight crew augmentation, however, the ability of the global aviation industry to objectively measure fatigue in live flight operations remains limited.

Seeing Machines’ pilot support technology helps carriers and operators determine pilots’ alertness and fatigue state in real time during live flight (wheels-up to wheels-down), to evaluate the effectiveness of schedule and pairing designs, ensure that their Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) is performing as expected, and to identify and mitigate systemic operational fatigue risk. Supporting and optimising pilot alertness during critical phases of flight is paramount to safety.

As the global aviation industry quickly recovers from Covid related pressures and prepares to double in the coming decades, Air Traffic Control systems and Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) will be under pressure to expand to meet the demand safely with highly-qualified air traffic controllers. With the introduction of HMI systemisation, digital / remote towers and automation, demands on air traffic controllers in this dynamic and resilient environment will also increase to safely manage the increasing density and complexity of aircraft traffic.

Seeing Machines’ Operator Alertness System can help ANSPs and controllers assess alertness and attention state in live operations, provide valuable and timely data to controller teams, and help ANSPs support controllers with more effective resourcing scheduling and decisions.