Flight Deck Task Management: A Cognitive Engineering Analysis

Abstract

Flight deck task management (TM) is a mostly cognitive function that is not well understood. There is increasing evidence of difficulties in unassisted pilot performance of TM, and it is anticipated that the complexity and scope of TM on future flight decks will increase. This all points to the need for a formal analysis of TM as part of the flight deck design process. To this end, cognitive engineering techniques were used to analyze the mental processes involved in flight deck TM. Normative and operational descriptions of TM were developed based, respectively, on previous analyses and pilot interviews. The two descriptions present interesting contrasts, but they are complementary, and in combination, provide a useful framework for beginning to address TM more formally within the flight deck design process.