Flying in Greenland: Pilot, Weather, and Perceptual Experience, An Anthropology of Human Factors

Abstract

This thesis examines preceptions of an environment defined as hostile - the ‘perceiving’ that is not limited to cognitive aspects. It is a thesis about the ways in which we see the world, not as determined, but with awareness that our experiences affect what we bring to what is in front of us, before our eyes. But it is also about the physical structure of the eye, in that we have deficiencies. In this way, this thesis also brings up, what is it about our visual attention that make it hard for us to see, for pilot’s to train their eyes to see? To find out, I asked the the pilots flying in Greenland, what does it mean to perceive their environment?

In light of this, pilots prefer not to experience unforeseen weather that comes as a surprise, especially if there is a failure at the same time. When something does happen, to what extent is the pilot in the decision-making loop? If we start from the first instance that we see the optical flow of James J. Gibson with our eyes, allowing for a fair description of the world, referring to Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, will it leave space for a visual experience of the world to be perceived?

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