The cockpit is an environment in which many important tasks simultaneously
compete for pilot attention. Cockpit Task Management (CTM) is the process by
which pilots selectively attend to flight tasks in such a way as to safely and
effectively complete a flight. CTM has been categorized as a mental function that
is inherently well understood by pilots and almost always performed satisfactorily
(for example, through the trained Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, Manage
Systems hierarchy). However, there are documented instances, such as incident
and accident reports, where tasks were not managed properly, resulting in an
aircraft mishap. CTM involves the prioritization of flight tasks based on their
importance to flight safety, urgency, and how well the tasks are actually being
performed. Task prioritization errors occur when pilots do not give attention to a
higher priority task (i.e., one more important to flight safety, one that is more
urgent, or one that is currently not being performed satisfactorily) by attending to a
lower priority task (i.e., one less critical to flight safety, one less urgent, or one that
is already being performed well and is not in need of immediate attention).
The goal of this thesis was to develop a CTM training program to aid pilots'
task prioritization performance. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 with yoke,
throttle, and rudder pedals, was used to assess pilot task prioritization performance
before and after training. Three experimental groups were used: a control group
(no training), descriptive group (CTM lecture training), and prescriptive group
(CTM lecture training plus mnemonic procedure) to test the effectiveness of CTM
training on task prioritization in simulated flight. Results showed that the
prescriptive group improved in task prioritization performance in the post-training
flight. Additionally, results showed that the descriptive and prescriptive groups
both improved in memory recall (a second dependent measure). It was concluded
that CTM training is effective on task prioritization performance. / Graduation date: 2002
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29633 |
| Date | 12 March 2002 |
| Creators | Bishara, Saher A. |
| Contributors | Funk, Kenneth H. II |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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