Factors Influencing Pilot Trust in Electronic Flight Bag Information

Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) are widely used by pilots in the commercial aviation industry. EFBs serve as replacements for some traditional sources of information, such as paper charts, manuals, and checklists, augmentation for flight-related information previously unavailable through older cockpit systems such as temporary flight restriction locations, and supplemental information such as a secondary display of traffic). By having access to this information, pilots are able to make more effective decisions in various situations. Related literature has shown that decision makers in situations of uncertainty are influenced by a range of factors such as experience, the level of risk in a situation, and criticality of information. The purpose of this study was to analyze factors that impact pilot trust in information provided by an EFB. Pilot survey and interview data from a simulation study was analyzed and results indicated that an increase in a pilot’s total flight hours, experience with specific EFB applications, and the criticality of the information presented on the EFB increased a pilot’s trust in information presented by the EFB. Conversely, the more often a pilot used an EFB and the length of time the pilot’s company had utilized EFBs on the flight deck, the less trust a pilot had in the information presented by the EFB. The implications of these findings and areas of future research will be discussed