¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To explore the impact of two tasks and three planes on the mental rotation of pilots in upright position. METHODS: Eighteen healthy male military pilots were tested by mental rotation test and their reaction time (RT) were measured and compared under sixª²condition matrix composed of 3 planes (the traverse plane, the sagittal plane and the coronal plane) and 2 tasks (viewer rotation and array rotation). RESULTS: Different tasks and planes had significant influences on the mental rotation in pilots (P<0.01) but no significant interaction was found. The RT of viewer rotation was shorter than that of array rotation (P<0.05) in each plane. The RT of traverse rotation was shorter than the coronal rotation and the sagittal rotation (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Performance is better on the viewer task than that on the array task. The viewer rotation advantage of mental rotation exists not only in the traverse plane of pilots but also in the coronal plane and the sagittal plane. In the three planes, the speed of traverse rotation is the fast. ......