Authors:
Patrice Labedan
;
Nicolas Darodes-de-Tailly
;
Frédéric Dehais
and
Vsevolod Peysakhovich
Affiliation:
ISAE-SUPAERO, Université de Toulouse, France
Keyword(s):
Virtual Reality, Flight Simulation, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, Piloting.
Abstract:
Flight training is provided through real flights with real aircraft and virtual flights using simulators. Nowadays
a third alternative way emerges which is the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) flight deck. However, the
effectiveness of this technology as a training tool for pilots has not yet been fully assessed. We, therefore,
conducted an experiment involving four pilots that had to perform the same traffic pattern scenario (take off,
downwind, and landing) in a VR simulator and real flight conditions. We collected subjective (perceived task
difficulty) and objective data (trajectory, cardiac activity). In this this preliminary study, the first descriptive
results disclosed that pilots had similar flying trajectories in both conditions. As one could expect, the pilots
reported higher task difficulty and exhibited higher heart rate and lower heart rate variability in the real flight
condition compared to the VR one. However, similar patterns of subjective rating and ca
rdiac activation were
found across the different segments of the scenarios (landing > take off > downwind) for the two conditions.
These latter findings suggest that VR offer promising prospects for training purpose but that more experiments
have to be conducted following the proposed methodology.
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