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In the REAL environment, as pilots set up their approach or depart or in flight, they make decisions in relation to the surfaces, winds, and light conditions available to them from the whole surroundings suspended in the air. It was from being in the real 3-dimensional space flying with them to then being in and observing the SIMULATED environment in the simulators in Nuuk and Arlanda (Stockholm) at the CAE training center that I pondered the question of the ‘transfer effect’ of simulator training into the real flight environment.

As noted above, weather technology has advanced, and so has visual scene technology with virtual reality goggles and full motion simulators. In this sense, I take into account the machine/helicopter/simulator and the affordances in the mediating effect between the pilot's eyes and the machine when they fly preoccupied with their center vision, wondering how the eye makes references to the side of the machine when enclosed in the boxed simulator and how they sense their peripheral. This brings up the question of the 'transfer effect' from simulator training to the real environment. Pilots often say, “It’s in the feeling.” My attempt under the section SIMULATED environment is to build on the word ‘feeling’ when they talk about their experiences in the simulator and what could be part of the ‘transfer effect.’ Certain aspects of aviation are more apt in describing the experience. Asking what is transferable from the training in SIMULATED environments into what pilots bring to the REAL environment ultimately goes both ways. Not by any means is this a fully developed argument. It is a slight detour from the core of the research. At the same time, it adds weight for further discussion.

About pilotgreenland.

pilotgreenland. is a platform for the research:

An Anthropology of Human Factors in Aviation: Preparedness and Perceptions in the REAL environment of Greenland and the SIMULATED environment

The contribution is a better understanding of preparedness in a hostile environment, weather situational awareness (WSA), and Greenland's constant shifts with nature.

Each Chapter engages how pilots fly weather.

This multimedia platform envisions the research merging the helicopter, pilot, and flight environment interactively on a map under the section Pilot - Machine - Environment.

My hope is that by seeing the real flight environment, watching clips from SIM training, plus pilot experiences on this platform, the emphasis is on the relations between the pilot, helicopter, and environment. In the REAL environment, pilots fly through the medium of weather. It is from the point of view of the GoPro mounted on the helmet thatwe see their flight environment mediated by the GoPro. It captures a helmet's field of view.

Wind, Surface, the Inland Ice
Fog, Icing and, the Winds
Flying in the blue hour

The pilot's perception of the environment is from the eyes-in-the-head-on-the-body-flying-in-the-air (on par with James J. Gibson's (1986) eyes-in-the-head-on-the-body-on-the-ground). Enabled by the helicopter, they fly in the atmosphere where all the weather happens. They see weather suspended in the air.

For those aviation enthusiasts fascinated by weather, pilots perceive the weather from a particular point of view - a pilot's eye.

In trying to understand the visual perception of pilots, the question that begins and follows through this platform is, what does it mean to perceive the REAL environment of Greenland?

Above all, flying in Greenland has a lot to do with preparedness – as perceived - in the environment flying in it.

Under the section Perceptions of the REAL, Greenland's flight environment is contextualized in the defined European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) meaning of 'hostile,’ not least in relation to Greenland’s weather environment. Throughout the three chapters are pilot experiences, as well as perspectives from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) in Nuuk, who supply weather services for aviation in Greenland. Some of the more experienced pilots would say it’s the technology in gathering weather data that has changed, not the physics of weather. As acknowledged in this research, pilots flying in Greenland have an immersive knowledge of the weather.

In Greenland’s flight environment, defined as hostile, and in particular adverse weather, I’ve come to realize that pilots observe their surroundings in the current atmospheric conditions minutes before the approach and seconds before they land. How pilots use their visual perception in the REAL environment lies in their experience of flying in Greenland.

After spending time with the pilots at the various settlement helicopter bases in Greenland, it became clear that pilots with local knowledge of the weather allow for a level of preparedness. With an emphasis on preparedness, that of knowledge of weather, or in Aviation terms - situational awareness - being weather aware is the broader concern. That is, weather situational awareness (WSA) comes from what is perceived in the environment; when pilots fly, they perceive the environment by foreseeing weather and making good weather decisions, which comes from past experiences flying in it, both in good and bad weather (noting a Greenlandic pilot of 18 years experience). As the weather can change rapidly, pilots use their eyes to scan their flight environment.

To grasp both hostile and preparedness, flying in Greenland provides an unparalleled precedent.

The image above is taken from the nose of the Bell 212 helicopter from Air Greenland's fleet. The B212 was heard up and down the coast between 1980 - 2022. The reproduction done by Claus Motzfeldt comes from an original drawing dating many, many, many years ago, known as HOBO. A helicopter head on with a polar bear - undeniably Greenland.

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The author, Pamela, can also be reached via email at pamela@pilotgreenland.com

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