FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-77/15

Title and Subtitle: Objective methods for developing indices of pilot workload

Report Date: July 1977

Authors: Chiles WD

Abstract: This paper discusses the various types of objective methodologies that either have been or have the potential of being applied to the general problem of the measurement of pilot workload as it occurs on relatively short missions or mission phases. Selected studies that have dealt with the workload measurement problem or some similar problem are reviewed in relation to their applicability to securing answers to operational questions.

The types of methods are classified as:

• laboratory,
• analytic and synthetic,
• simulator,
• and in-flight.

The paper concludes with a general discussion of the relative merits and some of the cautions to be observed in attempting to apply these methods and in trying to interpret the results with a view toward generalizing to operational situations.

Key Words: Performance measurement, Simulators, Workload

No. of Pages: 43