Flight Deck Eye Tracking

How It Works:

Bring your CFI: I meet with both you and your flight instructor.

Pre-Flight Briefing: We discuss your goals (e.g., instrument scan, landing flare, checklist flows).

The Flight: You fly your mission wearing the eye-tracking glasses. They are lightweight and fit comfortably under your headset.

Data Capture: The system records your visual attention at 120Hz alongside a wide-angle HD video of the panel.

Post-Flight Debrief: We review the footage together. You will see exactly where you looked, for how long, and—crucially—what you missed.

Who Is This For?: Student pilots struggling with scans, instrument students, CFIs wanting to validate their teaching, or seasoned pilots looking to refine efficiency.

Basic Package:

A video of your gaze patterns, and a detailed debrief

Price: Flat Rate $200 / 1-hour session (30 minutes of data collection and 30 minutes to review)

Short sessions are ideal for targeting specific, high-intensity skills like traffic patterns, landings, or checklist flows.

Location: Your airfield or simulator facility. (Limited to south San Francisco Bay Area.)

Additional Data Collection:

$150 for up to an hour of additional data collection & analysis

Longer sessions are great for analyzing scan endurance and workload management during cross-country flights or multiple instrument approaches.

Unobtrusive Design: Looks and feels like safety glasses; does not block peripheral vision.

High Definition: 1440p wide-angle camera captures the full avionics suite.

Precision: 120Hz eye tracking detects even rapid saccades (quick eye movements).

Calibration-Free: saves time in the cockpit.

Slippage Compensation: headset movement won't ruin the data.

Dark Pupil Tracking: works in varying cockpit lighting conditions.

Corrective Lenses: available for common prescriptions (-6.0 to +3 diopters).

Benefits

Objective Feedback: Instructors can guess where you are looking. Eye tracking proves it.

Situational Awareness: Research shows that expert pilots spend less time dwelling on single instruments. We analyze your dwell time and fixation frequency to optimize your scan.

Stress & Workload: Pupil diameter changes can indicate cognitive overload before you even feel it.

Further reading:

Ellis, Kyle Kent Edward. Eye tracking metrics for workload estimation in flight deck operations. The University of Iowa, 2009.

Martinez-Marquez, Daniel, et al. "Application of eye tracking technology in aviation, maritime, and construction industries: A systematic review." Sensors 21.13 (2021): 4289.

Stephens, Chad L., et al. "Psychophysiological Research Methods to Assess Airline Flight Crew Resilient Performance in High-Fidelity Flight Simulation Scenarios." 22nd International Symposium on Aviation Psychology. 2023.

Jon Boley, PhD

I translate complex cognitive science into simple, actionable flying habits.

My research focuses on understanding people's abilities, limitations, and behaviors.

I have been a pilot for over 20 years and enjoy a wide variety of flying.

Location: San Jose, California (USA)