An integrated approach to subjective measuring commercial aviation pilot workload

In this study, an integrated approach based on MRQ (Multiple Resources Questionnaire), NASA-TLX (NASA-task load index), SWAT (Subjective Workload Assessment Technique) and VACP (visual, auditory, cognitive, psychomotor) model was applied to the subjective measurement workloads of 22 commercial aviation pilots, which aviated the Airbus A320 in the approach phase in two scenarios-ILS CAT I (clear-air turbulence I) and CAVOK (ceiling and visibility OK). Three subjective scales were used to evaluate the pilot workload from different levels of flight tasks. (1) Modified NASA-TLX was used to measure total workload in the approach phase; (2) SWAT was used to measure the workload of 11 subtasks in the approach phase; (3) The newly designed BCMS (Behavior-Cognitive Model Scale) based on VACP model and MRQ by this study was used to measure specific resources in each subtask. Results in this study suggested that NASA-TLX factor structure should be modified, which is not suitable for highly automation in commercial aviation. The reasons why resources occupied cause higher workload in information processing procedure are found by comparing results of VACP model used to pre-test and SWAT used to post-test, which can be taken as reference to improve the design and training programs to some extent. BCMS was used to analyze pilot mental resources which have a high correlation between the total workload in each subtask and improve diagnosticity and reduce implementation difficulty. There were significant differences in some perceptive and cognitive resources among three typical pilots.

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