The Practical Assessment of Pilot Workload: Flight Mechanics Panel of AGARD
Abstract
In the Introduction to that earlier AGARDograph it was suggested that it may be useful to consider workload as a multi-faceted concept, primary facets being formed by the three variables: demands of the flight task, pilot effort, and results. Minor or secondary facets can then be formed by the various methods used for assessing levels of workload. These will be largely dependent on the experience, discipline, and interest of the investigator . In 1982 O'Donnell defined workload as ...an hypothetical construct which conveniently describes the interactions between multiple factors affecting the operator's response in an operational system . He went on to point out that ...such a broad and incomplete definition has value only if the factors underlying them can be identified, and if metrics to assess these factors can be specified O'Donnell identified three broad categories of factors which contribute to workload, namely: taskload, operator variables, and response. Hart referred to workload being a subjective experience resulting from a combination of several different dimensions; the three main dimensions being task-related, pilot-related, and outcome-related. Nineteen components of these main dimensions were to nine dimensions worth examining in detail when studying total workload: task difficulty, time pressure, own performance, mental effort, physical effort, frustration, stress, fatigue, and activity type.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA184834
Entities
People
- Alan H. Roscoe
Organizations
- AGARD