Pilot Workload

The study of workload has a long history, but it was not until a 1977 NATO-sponsored workshop and subsequent book that the concept became a common term used by psychologists and engineers. Since then, research has focused predominately on determining the factors that influence workload, and concurrently, on methods and techniques for measuring it. Of course, workload is a mediational construct that cannot be evaluated or observed directly. Workload assessment methods therefore rely on indirect reflections such as the analysis of objective performance measures, physiological indices, and subjective ratings.

Recently, there have been three large-scale reviews of workload research as related to aviation systems. Although each review has a different emphasis and thus reaches different conclusions, there is general agreement on the need for continuing research into pilot workload. The articles in this issue represent a diverse range of contemporary investigations that attest to the belief that there is still room for workload in the panoply of pilot-assessment procedures. The editors hope that these papers further serve to support the continued application of workload research to the operational issues and concerns of the aviation community.