Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability and Subjective Workload of Commercial Pilots During Jet Airplane Handling Maneuvers

Cardiac function (measured by heart rate and heart rate variability) have been investigated as objective measures of pilot workload, by comparing cardiac function between different flight manoeuvres. However, no study has investigated whether cardiac function measures can detect workload changes between manoeuvres of the same type, but different levels of difficulty (e.g., normal turns and steep turns). Commercial pilots (n = 14) flew a short scenario in a narrow-body jet simulator, which consisted of a normal turn, simple stall, steep turn, and complex stall. Heart rate, heart rate variability, NASA-TLX and flight path deviations were recorded. We found that heart rate and heart rate variability patterns were stable between participants and show clear differences between manoeuvre types. However, we did not observe any change due to manoeuvre difficulty. NASA-TLX ratings highlighted differences between manoeuvre difficulty, but not manoeuvre type. Our findings suggest that a combination of cardiac measures and subjective measures is best to understand workload. Additional research is required to establish guidelines for use of cardiac function as an indicator of workload.