Monocular peripheral vision as a factor in flight safety.

The performance of static visual identification tasks and simulated operational flying tasks, by nine binocular pilots and nine adapted monocular pilots, was measured in a unique operational visual simulator. It was hypothesized that, with head free to move, and adapted monocular pilot would perform as well as a binocular pilot, while an unadapted monocular (simulated by covering an eye) would perform less well. Other hypotheses were advanced. The static primary central task required sequential identification of dial readings. The dynamic primary central task involved simulated aircraft landing operations. During each set of primary tasks, a set of secondary peripheral visual tasks was performed. Results of the primary tasks and times of execution of the secondary tasks were subjected to analysis of variance. Factors included head position (fixed or free), stimulus location in peripheral field, eye state (seeing eye, blind eye), and type of central task (static, dynamic). All hypotheses were validated.