Cardiac autonomic responses in relation to cognitive workload during simulated military flight.

Understanding the operator's cognitive workload is crucial for efficiency and safety in human-machine systems. This study investigated how cognitive workload modulates cardiac autonomic regulation during a standardized military simulator flight. Military student pilots completed simulated flight tasks in a Hawk flight simulator.

Radio speech communication problems reported in a survey of military pilots.

Introduction: Despite technological advances in conveying information, speech communication is still a key safety factor in aviation. Effective radio communication is necessary, for example, in building and maintaining good team situation awareness. However, little has been reported concerning the prevalence and nature of radio communication problems in everyday working environments in military aviation.

Effect of caffeine on simulator flight performance in sleep-deprived military pilot students.

Caffeine has been suggested to act as a countermeasure against fatigue in military operations. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, the effect of caffeine on simulator flight performance was examined in 13 military pilots during 37 hours of sleep deprivation. Each subject performed a flight mission in simulator four times.

Heart rate and performance during combat missions in a flight simulator.

Introduction: The psychological workload of flying has been shown to increase heart rate (HR) during flight simulator operation. The association between HR changes and flight performance remains unclear.

Methods: There were 15 pilots who performed a combat flight mission in a Weapons Tactics Trainer simulator of an F-18 Hornet.