Visual Monitoring Behavior in Dual- and Reduced-Crew Configurations During Abnormal Events

The proposed reduction in commercial flight crew sizes, together with evolving cockpit operational concepts, introduces significant human factors challenges related to attention management, workload allocation, and pilot–automation interaction. Although such scenarios may be confined to specific flight phases, they highlight the continued importance of robust cockpit monitoring and have intensified interest in digital assistants to support task execution and decision-making. This study presents a comparative assessment of eye-tracking metrics and visual scanning strategies adopted by two professional pilots operating an A320 full-flight simulator. A representative short-haul mission was performed under nominal and abnormal conditions, including a hydraulic failure, in both dual- and single-pilot configurations. Gaze data were collected using Tobii Pro Glasses 3 and analyzed through an area-of-interest–based approach to characterize scanning pattern complexity. Preliminary results indicate distinct monitoring behaviors across conditions, largely influenced by the presence and modality of assistance.