Use of a Head-Worn Display for Approach and Landing in a Transport Category Aircraft: Does Monocular Viewing Impact Pilot Performance and Workload?

When manually flying an approach and landing, pilots can use a Head-Up Display (HUD), binocular Head-Worn Display (HWD), or monocular HWD to view flight symbology that is superimposed onto their view of the runway environment. There are design differences across these displays that could impact pilots’ performance and workload while flying. Based on these concerns, an experiment was conducted where 18 Airline Transport Pilot Captains flew approach, landing, and rollout scenarios with varying visibility levels in a Level D-equivalent Boeing 737 flight simulator. Pilots manually flew each scenario while using flight symbology presented on a HUD, binocular HWD, or monocular HWD. Pilots rated their workload during each scenario using the NASA-TLX. While flightpath tracking and energy management performance was not impacted by display type, pilot workload was highest when flying with a Monocular HWD and lowest when flying with a HUD. The operational takeaways and theoretical implications are discussed.