University of Waterloo researchers released a report that found female pilots with fewer than 300 hours of flight time conducted more stable landings and completed emergency-scenario tasks faster than their male counterparts did. The study, presented at the 2025 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, included a group of 20 low-time pilots composed of 10 women and 10 men. This group conducted nine landing trials using a high-fidelity simulator while wearing eye-tracking glasses.

Gaze metrics like fixation durations and saccade rates did not show significant differences between genders, but female participants demonstrated greater consistency on normal approaches and finished the simulated engine-failure drill in less time than men. Participants in the study also assigned themselves self-reported Situation Awareness (SA) scores after each trial. Female pilots assigned themselves higher SA scores across the board.

The authors say their findings from this study may call into question some oft-held beliefs about how men and women handle stress in aviation. Initial results could stand to benefit flight schools and airlines as they look to strengthen the equity and safety of their recruiting and training practices. Future iterations of the research, the authors say, will likely incorporate additional emergency scenarios and a larger pool of participants.