What is an active part of visual scanning during flight?

Visual scanning during flight is crucial for maintaining situational awareness and ensuring safety. The process involves actively looking for potential threats and changes in the environment around the aircraft. This includes monitoring for other aircraft, observing the weather, and identifying obstacles or changes in terrain. By continuously scanning the visual field, pilots can make informed decisions based on real-time observations, which helps prevent collisions and ensures a smooth flight.

In contrast, adjusting cockpit instruments, calculating flight time, and recording flight data are tasks that facilitate flight management but do not directly contribute to visual scanning. These activities are largely reliant on data presented on instruments and do not involve the same proactive engagement with the outside environment that visual scanning entails. Therefore, focusing on potential threats and changes is the essence of effective visual scanning.