Designing for pilots requires deep contextual understanding. We conducted extensive user research involving around twenty pilots from diverse cultural and operational backgrounds — American, Canadian, European, and Asian — to capture a wide range of practices, mindsets, and cockpit cultures.

Before starting interviews, I organized exploratory sessions with the client’s internal pilots to map the entire flight journey and highlight critical pain points. This preparatory work helped us craft a targeted interview guide and ensured that each session went beyond surface-level insights.

This combination of contextual research and technical immersion allowed us to grasp the subtleties of pilot decision-making, workload management, and collaboration in the cockpit.

With the research foundations in place, I facilitated co-creation workshops that combined market intelligence, user insights, and business strategy.

Using the Value Proposition Canvas, we explored how AI could support pilots’ cognitive load, reduce repetitive tasks, and enhance situational awareness. The workshops balanced the perspectives of buyers (airlines and manufacturers) with end users (pilots), ensuring that the roadmap aligned both commercial and operational priorities.

The result was a set of clearly framed AI opportunities that respected aviation constraints while addressing unmet pilot needs.

By embedding the client throughout the research and co-design process — from framing objectives to defining personas and value propositions — we ensured alignment across all teams. 

This shared understanding transformed insights into a clear and actionable roadmap, enabling the company to prioritize development streams and move confidently into early prototyping.

The approach not only accelerated decision-making but also reinforced the company’s position as a forward-thinking player in AI-driven avionics.