Assessment of metacognition in aviation pilot students during simulated flight training of a demanding maneuver

This study adapted the Demand Resource Evaluation Scores (DRES) as a metacognitive indicator in assessing pilot students’ perceptions during simulated training of a novel maneuver. Typically, positive DRES are associated with perceiving a demanding situation as a challenge and with improved performance, while negative DRES are linked to a perception of the situation as a threat, and to poorer performance. The novelty here was to assess DRES before and after the task and across three missions. Overall, students were found to change their perceptions from threat to challenge over time. Also, increased DRES were positively correlated with performance progressing from mission to mission, indicating that the students reflect on their performance as they advance in their training. These findings show that individual metacognitive evaluations of a stressful aviation maneuver might be important for the progress in performance. The results are discussed in terms of flight safety and pilot training. •Very few studies have looked at metacognition in pilots in training.•Metacognition in pilot students in a novel and demanding situation was explored.•We used Demand and Resource Evaluation Score (DRES) as a metacognitive judgement.•Students perceptions of the situation change from threat to challenge with time.•Metacognitive processes were at work as students advanced in their training.