Workload Functions Distribution Method: A Workload Measurement Based on Pilot’s Behaviors

According to the airworthiness regulation, FAR25.1523 published by Federal Aviation Administration, the minimum flight crew must be established so that it is sufficient for safe operation considering the workload on individual crew members. Considering workload evaluation, typically, the measurements classified into three types: performance measures, subjective rating scale measures and psychophysiological measures. However, although these measurements are widely used in various fields, they could not reflect the behavior of flight crew during flight tasks comprehensively, especially their workload functions. Normally, the basic workload functions based on the flight crew behaviors consist of six aspects: flight path control, collision avoidance, navigation, communication, operation and monitoring of aircraft engines and systems and command decisions. In this study, upon the above six aspects, a measurement named Workload Function Distribution Method was developed, considering flight crew behaviors including fixations, actions and communications in flight tasks. In order to verify the Workload Function Distribution Method, three flight tasks with different complexity were carried out among 6 flight crews in a CRJ200 flight simulator. The three flight tasks were standard instrument approach, non-precision approach with normal weather condition and non-precision approach with turbulence. Furthermore, one of the subjective rating scale measures, NASA-TLX, was used as a verification method which collected after each task. The experiment results indicated that Workload Function Distribution Method could distinguish the different complexity of flight tasks, and related to the NASA-TLX Scale.

In conclude, Workload Function Distribution Method was built up in this study. This measurement could effectively represent the flight crew workload based on their behaviors in flight tasks.