Subjective stress assessment: a new, simple method to determine pilot workload.

Abstract

Charged with the preparation of an expert opinion concerning psychophysical workload on pilots, the Aviation Psychology Branch of the GAF/IAM studied the "Subjective Stress Assessment" in which 217 Army, Air Force and Navy pilots filled in a standardized questionnaire. This questionnaire included 170 items to force the pilots into rating their on- and off-duty life; the answers of these people (117 jet, 41 multiple-prop, 14 single-engine, and 45 helicopter pilots) were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. It may be said--with all reservations towards subjectivity of pilots' opinions---that the pilots' image certainly requires some corrections, in particular as it relates to the ideal and material assessment of the activities of the separate groups of jet, helicopter, and prop pilots. It was the purpose of the study to show that the evaluation of pilots' workload by means of subjective interviews is a valuable method, aside from the assessment of difficulty of tasks by experts, aside from registration and evaluation of certain physiological parameters, and aside from the application of the Second-Task-Method-Registration.